AUBURN | Zion Puckett returns at safety with 25 career games played including 11 starts.
The rest of Auburn’s safeties have played in six college games combined with no starts. The competition for one of the starting position and both backup will be a focal point of spring practice.
Puckett took over the starting position opposite Smoke Monday in game two last fall and finished seventh on the team with 48 tackles despite missing a couple of games with an injury.
He didn’t have a pass breakup last season, however, and hasn’t intercepted a pass in his career.
The most experienced safety behind Puckett is junior Eric Reed Jr., who has played in a handful of career games. But Reed put his name in the transfer portal earlier this year before withdrawing it, and his status for this spring and moving forward is unclear.
The three most likely candidates to step up and win a starting position are redshirt freshman Cayden Bridges, who played in three games last fall, junior college transfer Marquise Gilbert and true freshman Caleb Wooden.
Gilbert and Wooden, who is the younger brother of starting defensive lineman Colby Wooden, both enrolled in January.
Bridges' experience came on special teams last season where he didn’t record a tackle. As a senior at Magee (Miss.) High in 2020, he had 52 tackles and four interceptions, and caught 44 passes for 606 yards and seven scores, helping the Trojans to an 11-0 record and the state championship.
Gilbert, the No. 7 overall junior college prospect in the 2022 class, had more than 50 tackles and two interceptions in two seasons at Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College. Wooden had 189 tackles and eight interceptions during his career at Archer in Lawrenceville, Ga.
Sophomore Donovan Kaufman could also play safety and potentially start, but he started five games at nickel last season.
Spring practice begins March 14 with the A-Day game scheduled for April 9 at 1 p.m. CT.
Here’s a look at a potential depth chart for the start of spring drills…
SAFETY
1. Zion Puckett, Jr.
2. Eric Reed Jr., Jr.
3. Caleb Wooden, TFr.
SAFETY
1. Marquis Gilbert, So.
2. Cayden Bridges, RFr.
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