Demarcus Riddick's first collegiate start came on Saturday against Louisiana Monroe.

That came as a surprise to some of his teammates, but him having an impactful game in said first start was the opposite of a surprise.

"I didn't know that was his first time," Jalen McLeod said postgame. "But he's doing the same thing he did all year. When y'all first saw him against Oklahoma -- he's only going to get better. That's something we're used to. That's Demarcus Riddick."

In his first start, Riddick totaled two tackles for a loss with one of those being a sack.

That's nothing new for the freshman linebacker.

Since the Oklahoma game, when he first started getting regular snaps, Riddick has accumulated 17 total tackles with four of them being for a loss.

And on top of that, Riddick has served as Auburn's QB spy helping it slow down mobile quarterbacks such as Michael Hawkins and Diego Pavia.

He has certainly impressed his teammates.

“Demarcus, he a dog," Kayin Lee said postgame. "He had that dog in him, so he just got to keep that up. We're behind him. Everybody on the team believes in him, so he's got to keep that up, and it’s helping the team most definitely.”

Riddick, along with Cam Coleman, who also had a big game Saturday, are just freshmen, so they will only get better.

And according to their older teammates, the sky is the limit for both.

"Those are two young guys you don't expect to be young guys," McLeod said postgame about Coleman and Riddick. "They playing SEC football. They're generational talents."