Noah Igbinoghene looks like he was 'born to be a defensive back'

AUBURN — When players move positions — especially from one side of the ball to the other — it can be a roster death sentence.

Two-way players in college football are, more or less, a thing of the past. Players who shift from offense to defense or vice versa are often viewed as depth pieces at a thin position. That's exactly how sophomore Noah Igbinoghene could've seen amid his receiver-to-cornerback move in the spring.

Instead, Igbinoghene has given defensive coaches reason to talk about him as an SEC-caliber starter despite never playing the position before spring.

"I just feel like he was a natural. I felt like corner was just made for him," cornerback Jamel Dean said.

"I think Noah was born to be a defensive back," cornerbacks coach Marcus Woodson said.

Athletically, Igbinoghene was probably born to do a lot of things.

His parents both competed in track and field for the Nigerian national team. Igbionghene's mother, Faith, won a bronze medal in the 1992 Olympics as part of the nation's 4x100 relay. Noah adopted the track and field lifestyle from his parents, where he excels for Auburn's field team as a long jumper and triple jumper.

The technical training and patience it takes to be a world-class jumper has carried over to Igbinoghene's cornerback transition.

He has made the move look easy enough that coaches haven't hesitated to slot him as the first-team cornerback opposite Dean.

"It seems like he's been playing it his whole career. When you watch film, he doesn't stand out like a guy who doesn't know what he's doing. I've been overly pleased with his progression up until this point," Woodson said. "He's made that transition look as smooth as you could possibly make it with as little experience he has at the position and how polished he'll make it look."

It's lofty praise, but people inside the Auburn Athletic Complex have floated out high draft-pick potential for a guy who hasn't played the position in a real game. That will catch the attention of the Auburn fan base who will expect big early dividends from the move.

Because of a "minor offseason procedure," as Woodson called it, Igbinoghene has been forced to sit out some of the fall. Given his recent move, you'd think it would terrify coaches to see a relative newcomer miss out on much-needed fall camp reps.

On the contrary, defensive coordinator Kevin Steele has seen more than enough from Igbinoghene early on to feel he's up for the challenge.

"Well he’s really smart and he can fly, obviously, run, which is a trait at corner," Steele said. "But probably the biggest thing that I didn’t know — maybe y’all knew; I didn’t know — was he physical enough and would he tackle? And he is. So that was probably the biggest thing that jumped out."