Auburn Briefing: Three surprises from the first depth chart

Auburn gave a depth chart to the media members in attendance at Hugh Freeze's press conference on Monday. There were a few surprises. Here are our quick three:

Cam Riley at starting linebacker

We have heard several linebackers next to Austin Keys throughout fall camp. Eugene Asante and Larry Nixon III were the most recent starters seen at linebacker before Keys returned from injury. Cam Riley has all the traits you want in a linebacker. If he can put it all together, it would be huge for Auburn.

Griffin Speaks makes the two-deep

Baylor safety transfer Griffin Speaks made the two-deep and was listed as the backup safety behind Jaylin Simpson.

Keldric Faulk listed as a backup

In the last few weeks, we've heard from separate sources that freshman defensive end Keldric Faulk was consistently the first man out there at defensive end. Maryland transfer Mosiah Nasili-Kite was listed as the starter on Monday's depth chart. Nasili-Kite started at defensive end for the first few weeks of fall camp.

They said it

Hugh Freeze was asked about playing the UMass Minutemen this weekend.

“Well, I played them every year. I saw a drastic improvement last year under Coach (Don) Brown. I have great respect for him. I think he is one of the best defensive play callers in the country. Last year their record was atrocious, and they had a top 10 defense in the country. Now they have added 27 transfers, most from Power 5 schools. I thought they looked quite different. New Mexico State is not an easy place to go play, and they took care of the football and did not turn it over. They got turnovers. They capitalized on turnovers. They threw the ball effectively, which they have not done in four years that I’ve played them. I think defensively they play just as hard as any team in the country, and you combine that with Coach Brown’s systems, which are very chaotic and very hard to identify where your offense is at times. They will create negative plays with that. That was a big challenge for us last year when we played them up at UMass. They created a lot of negative plays against us. We managed to score enough points to win the game, but it was a challenge. They have our full attention.”

We wrote it

Lance Dawe of Auburn Daily recapped the injury update from Freeze on Monday.

Cornerback JD Rhym may be out. Wide receiver Nick Mardner, who transferred in from Cincinnati in the offseason, may also be out on Saturday. Mardner has been dealing with injury throughout camp.
JACK Jalen McLeod is listed as third-string on the depth chart and is injured. Cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett will go, according to Freeze, but has been banged up. Backup quarterback Robby Ashford has had oblique strain, but Freeze said he should be fine.

They said it

We wrote it

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