What do we really know about Auburn’s defense?
There is some familiarity and some of it not so much.
We know former Clemson and LSU defensive coordinator Kevin Steele is Auburn’s third defensive coordinator in as many years and is the fourth in the last five years.
We know Auburn was plagued with several injuries last year, including defensive end Carl Lawson who missed most of last season. The SEC’s Tigers ranked 13th in the 14-team league in total defense, yielding 405.2 yards per game while also giving up 26.0 points, which ranked 11th in the SEC.
But despite those numbers, Auburn’s players believe they can be a top-five defense, and they don’t mean in the SEC. They mean nationally.
“The sky is the limits,” said Illinois transfer T.J. Neal on AL.com. “You know, it’ll be a top 5 defense. We can have fun. We are still just working and everyday making progress to be the best defense we can be.”
Still, those are lofty goals for a unit that according to AL.com allowed 14 of its last 16 Power 5 opponents to score 20 or more points. Ten of those have scored 30 points or more. Last year, Clemson’s offense averaged 38.5 points and 514.5 yards per game.
However, Clemson co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott thinks Auburn’s defense has a chance to be pretty good. He has been watching them on tape all summer and has seen a ton of athletes flying around and making plays.
“We are trying to turn over every stone just in anticipation of what we are going to see,” Elliott said.
And what will Elliott and the ACC’s Tigers see exactly. Auburn has a defensive line that is one of the best in the country, and Neal was one of the top tackling linebackers in the Big Ten the last two years.
Clemson is very familiar with Lawson. At one point he was a Clemson lean before switching gears and heading back to the Plains.
“He committed to Auburn early and then he opened it back and we thought we had a shot, but ultimately he went back to Auburn,” Elliott said. “He is as fast as anybody we are going to see coming off that edge.
“I know he is going to be anxious to play. I know he got hurt, think early in his career and he missed some games last year, so he is going to be excited. He will be as fast as anybody we have seen off the edge.”
On the back end, Auburn has some unsettled issues and it doesn’t help that safety Stephen Roberts was arrested on charges of attempting to elude an officer and for possessing a firearm without a license on Wednesday night.
There is still no word from head coach Gus Malzahn if Roberts will be suspended or not for next Saturday’s game against Clemson.
If he is it surely will not help an Auburn secondary that ranked 11th in the SEC last year after giving up 222.6 yards per game, while allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete 60.7 percent of their passes, which also ranked 11th in the conference.
Without a doubt, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson and his bevy of wide receivers has to be licking their chops in anticipation of the season-opener. Watson completed nearly 68 percent of his passes last year for 4,104 yards and 35 touchdowns, while throwing at least five touchdown passes to five different receivers.