A-Day: Auburn’s Defense Shows Promise

Several Auburn defensive players showed their skill during A-Day

Golden Eagle Aurea / Brian Smith-Auburn Daily

From the A-Day scrimmage, the Auburn offense won 28-27 over the defense. That does not mean the defense did not hold its own.

Here are some obvious defensive bright spots from the scrimmage. 

Note: All statistics are from Auburn Stat Broadcast.

• Above all else, Auburn’s defense played consistent football. No pure busts that allowed easy touchdowns or big plays. The run-gap fits were pretty good even inside the five. That’s not easy to do.
• A big part of the success was defensive lineman Quientrail Travis. Three tackles, all for a loss, including two sacks! That’s a big-time performance!
• For the game, the defense was credited with six pass breakups.
• The offense went 5 of 18 on third downs.
• The defense was tremendous in the red zone, including stuffing the offense multiple times inside the five-yard line. In fact, the offense did not register a red zone touchdown.
• Auburn’s defense held the offense to 46 yards from 31 carries. While the run-pass option game was not truly in effect because quarterbacks were not live, the number of interior runs that went no place or for a loss should be brought to light. There were 12 tackles for loss on the day.
• Auburn’s blitzes kept Payton Thorne off balance a little bit, and really hindered the reserve signal-callers.
• Auburn’s defensive youth movement was on display, as freshmen and sophomore defensive linemen and edge defenders like Malik Blocton, Jamonta Waller, TJ Lindsey, Amaris Williams, and Keldric Faulk all had their moments where they made plays at or behind the line of scrimmage.
• Sticking with a young player, keep an eye on linebacker Demarcus Riddick. He is going to make a lot of appearances for the Tigers this year. He had two tackles and is a physical presence.
• The Auburn secondary was no easy opponent to throw against. For instance, sophomore cornerback Kayin Lee is an athletic cornerback who has gained confidence and it showed today. His pass breakup in the corner of the end zone was tremendous.
• Auburn’s secondary will be one of the better SEC units this fall.
• Finally, Auburn’s blitz packages consistently work. That’s going to pay dividends come this fall.