Auburn Tigers Defensive Coordinator DJ Durkin won't Rely on New Tech

Being the loudest voice in the room takes on entirely different meaning for Auburn Tigers defensive coordinator DJ Durkin, especially when it comes to new helmet communication.

Auburn Tigers defensive coordinator DJ Durkin / Austin Perryman, Auburn University Athletics

One of the greatest assets of any defensive coordinator is the ability to be bombastic enough to get heard right in the middle of the field, after all, it gets pretty loud out there. 

Old fashioned methods still work well on the practice field, but the brand new age of on-field helmet communication dictates that finding a far gentler tone might become necessary when the players get going.

With that in mind, Auburn Tigers defensive mastermind DJ Durkin is discovering he might need to turn the volume down a little on himself moving forward, but the bumps in the road are being circumnavigated in his opinion.

"We have worked out the kinks, sometimes they tell me I'm too loud in their ear, so I gotta work on that," Durkin laughed this week at media availability.

Inevitably, amplifying already raised voices straight into the ear holes of super excited players was always going to contain some advanced degrees of difficulty.

Of course, Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze has already gone on record this season to say that they'll need time to iron out the wrinkles with quarterback Payton Thorne, but overall, vital progress was being made by all concerned.

So as far as Durkin is concerned, he conceded that things aren't entirely different when it comes to how the unit traditionally communicated on the defensive side anyway.

"I don't know how much on the defensive side it really changes things," Durkin confessed. "It does assist and maybe helps a little bit with communication, but we can't totally go to that as our communication to the players on the field." 

In truth, the read and react elements of playing on defense dictates that much of what Durkin might want to communicate will become null and void in the time frame the comms are allowed to be used, especially when late shifts and audibles get sounded out.

So, it certainly sounds like Durkin intends to dip only his toe in the fresh waters of change, the tried and tested old school methods of communicating will remain.

With a fair wind, the hope is that offensive trends and general tendencies can be more quickly and accurately conveyed to the defensive play caller on the hoof by helmet communication.

That part of the new system has crystal clear benefits, but harnessing and unleashing it fully means you fundamentally need to be open minded to using it in the first place.

Furthermore, with a loaded Tigers defense only getting better after recent windfalls in the recruitment cycle, weaponizing defensive communication needs to become a factor which helps create an additional edge.

Finding different ways to get on the front foot is paramount in any sporting amphitheater, it just all kinda looks like trying to hit a nasty curveball right now for DJ Durkin and Co.