Auburn Tigers College Football Preview 2023: Defense
Auburn Tigers Preview 2023: Defense
2023 Auburn Preview: Offense
Keys To Season, Top Players, What Will Happen
- Auburn Schedule, Picks For Every Game
You’ve got to be pretty strong to be Dave Aranda’s defensive coordinator. Ron Roberts was at Baylor over the last few seasons after head coaching gigs at Delta State and SE Louisiana and several other coordinator jobs. He’s great at cranking up a defense, the pressure is coming, and there should be more takeaways. Auburn has work to do on that - more in the next section about why that matters.
The transfer portal isn’t going to make quite the impact is did on the offensive side, but it will certainly change around the front six in a hurry starting with Justin Rogers (Kentucky), a 6-3, 346-pound true definition of an anchor.
Mosiah Nasili-Kite (Maryland) is a big veteran tackle who should shine next to Rogers. The pass rush should get a boost with Jalen McLeod (Appalachian State), who made 67 tackles with seven sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss over the last two years.
Second-leading tackler Cam Riley is back in the middle of the linebacking corps after making 66 stops, but he’ll have to hold off Austin Keys (Ole Miss), a central casting-sized inside linebacker who should be a tough guy against the run.
On the outside, Larry Nixon (North Texas) will be a stat-sheet filler after making 245 career tackles - 105 last year - with the experience and skills to get all over the field.
Who needs the transfer portal? Certainly not the secondary that will be close to intact with the experience and talent to be far better considering the other parts of the D are going to be a whole lot better.
Kelonte Scott is a solid all-around tackling safety, Jaylin Simpson can play just about anywhere, and the corner combination of DJ James and Nehemiah Pritchett is good enough to be in the NFL. Now the interceptions have to come after the DBs generated just five.
2023 Auburn Preview: Offense
Keys To Season, Top Players, What Will Happen
- Auburn Schedule, Picks For Every Game
