Keldric Faulk Likes Auburn’s Chances Against Oklahoma's Freshman QB

Auburn will be facing another mobile quarterback this week. Oklahoma named Michael Hawkins Jr. the new starter, and Keldric Faulk is confident ahead of Saturday's game.

Auburn Tigers defensive lineman Keldric Faulk / Photo by Zach Bland, Auburn Tigers

For the third week in a row, the Auburn Tigers will be going up against a mobile quarterback.

New Mexico’s Devon Dampier and Arkansas’ Taylen Green were the last two dual-threat signal callers the Tigers went up against. Now they will take on Oklahoma’s Michael Hawkins making his first career start.

Auburn defensive lineman Keldric Faulk is confident in his team’s ability to matchup with Hawkins as it has plenty of experience against that kind of quarterback.

“We had a teammate just like him, Robby Ashford to be specific, to practice against,” Faulk said. “We practice against that type of quarterback. Our quarterback (Payton Thorne) has the ability to run. We’ve been practicing against it the whole spring, fall and throughout the beginning of the season. We’ve been practicng against it and I feel like we’ve been handling it pretty well.”

Despite having seen quarterbacks similar to his style, Faulk believes that Auburn would be making a mistake by taking Hawkins lightly just because he's a freshman.

“I just think with this quarterback, he’s really talented, and I think we need to keep eyes on him,” Faulk said. “While we’re rushing, just making sure we don’t let him leak out of the pocket because he can be dangerous leaking out of it.”

According to Pro Football Focus, Faulk places No. 3 nationally in quarterback pressures among power four players with 17. However, he didn't think Auburn’s defense did everything it could to limit Green in Auburn’s loss to Arkansas last week. 

“We didn’t think he wanted to run out of the pocket,” Faulk said. “He wanted to stay in and show people he could throw the ball, he’s a pretty good passer. We tried to get a little saucy with it and just go get to him but we opened up too many lanes for him. It’s hard not to take them.”

Even though the Sooners have a quarterback making his first start, he'll be behind a veteran Sooners offensive line. Tackles Michael Tarquin and Spencer Brown are both redshirt seniors. Center Brandon Hickman and right guard Febechi Nwaiwu are both redshirt juniors, and right guard Jacob Sexton is a junior.

Still, Faulk is confident in his unit’s ability to make an impact in the game this week.

“It’ll be a good week for us to go out there and show what we can do,” Faulk said. “But we also got to keep in mind that the young guy they got at quarterback can get the job done. We can’t allow him to keep the game in his hands, we’ve got to force it in to ours.”

Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CT at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday. ABC and ESPN+ will carry the television broadcast.