Mosiah Nasili-Kite — Eric Starling/Auburn Daily

Auburn’s new defensive line coach Jeremy Garrett talks tactics

Auburn’s defensive line wants depth, depth, and more depth.

Author:
Matthew Jacobs
Publish date:
Mar 24, 2023 12:40 PM EDT

In this story:

Auburn Tigers

For the past few seasons, Auburn’s defense has enjoyed a few outstanding defensive linemen. It has been the lack of depth behind those dudes that has hurt the defense as a unit. New D-Line coach Jeremy Garrett aims to change that. He asserted the one thing he learned from his NFL coaching experience is you must build depth. A statement he put an exclamation point on:

“The next step down from the NFL is the SEC.”

Garrett explained his blueprint for building an outstanding defensive line: Develop as many guys as he possibly can and then rotate them early and often. Solidly building every lineman he has into starters by the end of the season. “For my positions, If I can find eight guys that can play, we are cooking” he added. A large part of that plan includes working on the human being as much as the athlete. Garrett places a premium on his ability to be in tune with his players off the field which enables him to be able to coach them harder on the field. With him, it goes both ways. He earns his players' trust daily, they earn his.

“I tell my room (that) I am looking for a reason to play you, I’m not looking for a reason NOT to play you.”

“I check on my players in the strength room, and I check on them academically. I expect accountability in every aspect of my players. That is what I am looking for. A guy doing all phases of what it takes on and off the field to be a student-athlete. The reason for that is if you aren’t doing all you are supposed to be doing, you create distractions.”

“Show up on tape and I will put you in.”

Powerful words from a powerful personality. Coach lamented how much he loves guys with SEC experience because they already know what they are going to see on Saturdays. They already know what it is going to look like. What it is going to feel like. What it takes to win games. What it takes to beat the teams they are going to face. Experience will determine his linemen’s understanding of what defensive coverage they have behind them. Zone or man? This will affect their jobs dramatically. Doing their jobs correctly will directly determine their production. However, he reiterated that the last thing he wants is to have a player go out and lock-up because they are terrified of making mistakes.

“We are going to coach the mistakes, let’s go place fast and physical and have fun”

As far as his opinion on his line up to this point in Spring training, Garrett mentioned several times that he really likes this group. They are progressing well. Showing great effort and are ready to fix any mistakes. He likes the defensive schemes. There is a belief that the pieces are in place that if, right now, they had to go heavy against the run, Auburn could. If Auburn needs to go quicker against a spread offense, they have that ability as well. He is confident they will put it all together with defensive coordinator Ron Roberts and be good. They are perfecting their craft.

It should be noted that Garrett did list a few players specifically and where they were playing this Spring.

Defensive End: Marcus Harris, Jeffrey M’Ba

Nose and Tackle: Justin Rogers, Jayson Jones, Lawrence Johnson

End and tackle: Mosiah Nasili-Kite

When pressed further: “Just trying to cross-train a bunch of guys so that we can throw different rotations out there. Depending on who we are playing.”

Coach Garrett, like so many others, has really noticed Auburn Tiger newcomer Keldric Faulk. He was wide-eyed and impressed by Faulk’s speed and ability to rush.

“He is going to be “IT” at edge. The kid is going to be special. Really bright future as he progresses.”

That is high praise from a man that coached Myles Garrett.

In the end, Coach Garrett really wanted his players to know that they are getting an amazing opportunity to get a degree from Auburn University by playing here. He spoke about how much of a blessing that is and to just go have fun and do it.