AUBURN – College football programs across the country are preparing to begin the 2024-2025 season, and the Auburn Tigers are no exception.
The Tigers had a solid defensive performance last season and defensive coordinator DJ Durkin hopes the unit will get even better in his first season with the program.
Durkin has talked about wanting to use as many players as possible, but highlighted one area where he would like to see some depth.
“We’re still working really hard to create depth with these guys, both outside of the corner positions and inside,” Durkin said of the secondary. “When I say depth, I also mean position diversity. Being in a nickel or dime package and having these guys learn more than one position and they’ll be able to jump around.”
Durkin thanked co-defensive coordinator and safety coach Charles Kelly and cornerbacks coach Wes McGriff for the progress in the secondary.
“Coach Kelly, Coach Crime (McGriff), those guys are doing a great job with them in the back end,” Durkin said. “We’re going to use multiple guys back there, we think we have enough talent to do that. For us, it’s about what each individual guy can handle.”
“Sometimes they can physically do multiple things at once, and that’s OK, but are we asking too much of this guy mentally? Are we asking too much of him to learn more than one thing?” he added.
Durkin also talked about helmet communication and what it was like to implement it.
“We’ve worked through the issues. Sometimes they tell me I’m too loud in their ear, so I have to work on that,” Durkin said. “I don’t know how much it really changes on the defensive side. It helps and maybe helps a little bit with communication, but we can’t completely rely on that as our communication with the players on the field.”
Auburn begins the season at home against the Alabama A&M Bulldogs on August 31 at 6:30 p.m. CT. ESPN+/SEC Network+ will broadcast the game.
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