After sophomore slump, Moultry is 'back to the old T.D.'

Auburn has seen this movie before.

T.D. Moultry had a phenomenal offseason last year, according to his coaches. The former top-100 recruit out of Jackson-Olin in Birmingham entered the season ready to be one of Auburn's primary pass-rushers from the Buck end position.

But immediately in the opener against Washington, the penalty troubles began to pile up. He was flagged for offsides and received a roughing-the-passer call against the Huskies.

From there, Moultry got in his own head.

“Really, T.D. last year coming out of spring had an unbelievable spring," Auburn defensive line coach Rodney Garner said at Thursday's assistant coach media day, "and then right off the box in the Washington game, he had those two penalties and sort of took a dip."

As Moultry declined, 2018 team sack leader Nick Coe began to take charge as Auburn's go-to pass-rusher at the Buck position. Moultry never worked his way back up and finished the season with 2.5 tackles for loss.

With a clean slate now heading into his junior campaign, Moultry is picking himself up and maturing as a leader and a player.

“I think T.D.’s gotten back to the old T.D.," Garner said. "... We just got to be guarded that we don’t take that dip again. I think he had a really good offseason. I think he had a good spring. I think he’s had a good fall camp. Obviously, we got to put all that together, and we’ve got to learn how to not allow one bad play to turn into two, turn into three, because the next thing you know, you got a bad game, and just that mental toughness and being able to fight through adversity, because you’re going to have adversity. That’s part of the game.”

Garner utilizes seven to eight linemen in multiple different packages, so Auburn obviously relies on more than just the four starters. Coe or defensive end Marlon Davidson can move inside on money downs, and end Big Kat Bryant can float as a QB spy in Auburn's third down "Rabbits" package.

That leaves Moultry, who rarely worked as anything but a hands-on-knees linebacker in high school, as the most pure pass-rusher of the unit.

“T.D.’s really had a good camp," Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele said Thursday. "He’s had a very, very good camp. You know, T.D. is highly competitive. Highly competitive spirit. He’s physical and he can run. ... He had never played the position in his life, and so it’s just maturity.”

Some thought Moultry might be forced to move to Auburn's linebackers room as the talent in front of him along the defensive line continued to rise. Auburn nearly did the same three years ago with Jeff Holland, another former linebacker whom the Tigers tried to mold into an end.

Instead, Garner and Steele focused on Holland's fundamentals and hand skills heading into his third year with the defense — just as they're doing now with Moultry. Holland then became Auburn's third-down nightmare from the Buck spot, ranking second in the SEC in sacks in 2017.

"Because of his size, sometimes his play is not — I won’t say unorthodox, but he does things a little bit differently than, say, a guy that’s a Nick Coe body," Steel said. "But he is powerfully strong and he is very, very quick, and he’s highly competitive. He has, in fall camp, been very noticeable in play-making.”