'It's been a long time coming,' Auburn cornerback Jaylin Simpson excited for season opener vs Mercer

Much like the rest of the team, Simpson is itching to take the field on Saturday.

To quote former Auburn basketball player Malik Dunbar, "it's 'bout that time."

The Auburn football team knows it.

The Tigers are halfway through game prep and are inching closer and closer to kickoff against Mercer on Saturday. Fanfare is starting to pick up.

It's almost indescribable, the feeling that washes over Auburn, Alabama when football season approaches.

It's less about the change in weather - Alabama will be hot and humid until October - but there's still a change in atmosphere, as if you can feel the town slowly coming back to life after a long and arduous summer.

It's just... different.

And it has been a long time coming.

Auburn cornerback Jaylin Simpson spoke with the media on Wednesday afternoon and discussed how the defensive back room is getting prepared for the season.

Competition, according to Simpson, is still a point of emphasis in practice.

"We have a bunch of competition in the room," Jaylin Simpson said. "But I feel like everybody has a time to play. When I got here in 2019, we had a pretty good room but I kinda get the same vibe now, everybody in the room is well off and good enough to play and I just feel like the competition we have in the room brings the best out of everybody everyday."

Competition is something Coach Bryan Harsin has preached since day one with the Tigers back in 2021. Competition at every level and at every position group across the roster.

A depth chart was released on Monday afternoon, but, Simpson believes anyone can be replaced at any time. 

"There's a depth chart but there's really no starting job. Your starting job could be gone any day," Simpson noted. "Knowing that as a starter, I know the guys that are behind me are pushing to take my job. They push me everyday, and I push them."

Iron sharpens Iron, as one man sharpens another, Harsin has said.

"We got a pretty good group. A really good group, actually. I feel like even the young guys, they can play too, so, we have a really good group in the backend."

The Tigers' secondary struggled at times last season, finishing ninth or worse in the SEC in yards allowed per game, opponent passer rating, opponent completion percentage, and interceptions made.

It was one of the focal points in a disastrous five-game losing streak to end the season. A rebound is in order.

"Losing those last six games - especially the Bama one - that one sat on my mind a lot," Simpson said. "Not anymore. It had me down for a little bit, but finishing those last six games the way we did, because of the work that we put in during practice, it was a tough pill to swallow. But, I think we learned a lot from it, and I do not see us doing that this year. At all."

One of the mottos the team emphasized in 2021 was "1-0." Focusing on improving in the moment rather than worrying about what could come down the road.

That day-by-day mindset has not changed heading into this season. While some may want to focus on the huge week three matchup with Penn State, Auburn is focusing on the task at hand: the Mercer Bears.

Preparation for Mercer has been pretty straight forward for the Tigers, but Simpson indicated that the Bears didn't necessarily put a lot on film in their week zero matchup with Morehead State (a 63-17 Mercer victory).

"The one thing I've noticed about Mercer is - they're not a bad team, for one," Simpson said. "Watching the game from last week against Morehead State, they (Morehead State) didn't really help much with what we are going to get, they didn't give us a good look."

Does it matter? Not much.

"But watching them, personally, I think our d-line is going to do their job. Just so y'all know, the d-line is my favorite position group on the team. I love my d-line... I think they're going to handle the run."

Simpson continued to harp on his excitement about the line and their relationship with pass coverage.

"Rush and coverage work together," Simpson said. "A lot of times, those guys, they get back there, and we don't have to cover for very long. If there is a 9 ball going down the field, most of the time there's a sack before the ball even gets to the guy running all the way down the field. I just love my d-line, man. They're always in their gaps, they're always doing what they're supposed to do, they make it easier for us on the backend. And I love them."

If the defensive line - regarded as one of the best at its respective unit in the country - can perform, Simpson believes it makes things simple for the defensive backfield.

"The backend -  we just have to make sure the shots don't surprise us. They had two scores on the glance, and they had a deep post... we just can't be surprised because they're going to try to play with our eyes with all of their movement, the shifts before the ball is even snapped, dink and dunk sideline to sideline, and 'surprise, here comes a shot,' so we just can't be surprised."

'Eager' would be an understatement when beginning to describe how ready the Tigers are to take the field at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday.

"Man, it's crazy. We were running those (stadium) decks, like you would be in the middle of the summer, and you were just doing workout after workout and you were just like 'dang, man, it's so far away,' and I was doing schoolwork today and I was getting my academics together, and I'm looking at stuff that I have for the rest of the week, and I'm like 'hold up - that's (Mercer) three days away!' It's just such a good feeling."

"I'm just so ready and excited, man. I'm ready to hit Tiger Walk, I'm ready to go to the hotel and go through everything, pregame. I'm just so ready to play, man. It's been a long time coming."

The Tigers kickoff the 2022 season vs Mercer on Saturday, September 3rd at 6:00 p.m. You can watch the broadcast live on SEC Network+, or listen to the Auburn Sports Network locally on the radio at 93.9 FM.

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