How Auburn Reloaded its Edge Room this Offseason

The Auburn Tigers boasted one of the better defenses in college football last season, finishing as the No. 29 total defense and the No. 34 scoring defense. However, that defense will have to replace both starting edge rushers, as Keldric Faulk and Keyron Crawford each will be selected in April’s NFL Draft.

So, how will the Tigers replace the lost production? Well, thankfully, Auburn brought back defensive coordinator DJ Durkin, who has been extremely solid at developing edge rushers throughout his career. Durkin, head coach Alex Golesh, and the rest of the Auburn staff went searching in the portal for new starters, and they found some solid options for 2026.

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Auburn’s headline addition in the portal off the edge was Da’Shawn Womack, an Ole Miss transfer who ranked as the No. 9 edge rusher in the portal by On3’s Rivals and No. 15 at the position by 247 Sports. Womack is a former five-star recruit via 247 Sports who initially committed to LSU before transferring to Ole Miss after his sophomore season.

Admittedly, the stats for Womack in his first three seasons are far from eye-popping. He has recorded just 4.5 sacks across three seasons, with two of those coming last season at Ole Miss. However, he has extreme athletic upside and spent most of the season as the running mate to the extremely productive Princewill Umanmeilen.

And, not for nothing, but Auburn fans should be in a unique position to appreciate an impactful edge player that does not post elite sack production after watching Keldric Faulk in 2025.

Auburn’s second transfer portal addition was Nate Johnson, a former Appalachian State transfer by way of a year at Missouri in 2025. Johnson is a former First-Team Freshman All-American and Second-Team All-Sun Belt player who did not play much for Eli Drinkwitz. However, it was not necessarily due to his lack of ability.

Johnson was stuck behind Damon Wilson II and Zion Young, who formed one of the best overall edge duos in the SEC last season. Young will be a Day 2 pick in this year’s NFL Draft, and Wilson was one of the crown jewels of Miami’s transfer portal class following its national championship appearance.

As a result, Johnson was slightly underrated in the portal class, ranked as the No. 27 edge rusher by 247 Sports and No. 30 at the position by Rivals. However, he should be able to form a reliable duo on the other side of Womack.

However, not all of the upside of the edge came in the transfer portal. True freshman Jared Smith, a former four-star prospect, had two sacks in 11 games as a rotational player. Smith is a prodigious athlete who has shown flashes of elite burst and bend off the edge and could be primed to be a breakout star if either Womack or Johnson underperforms.