Aug. 12, 2016
By Charles Goldberg
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. - Kevin Steele would like to introduce you to some of Auburn's newest defenders, or at least talk about the new guys that have impressed him in the early stages of preseason practice.
Unprompted after Thursday's practice, Auburn's defensive coordinator talked about freshman defensive back Daniel Thomas, freshman defensive linemen Derrick Brown and Marlon Davidson, freshman linebacker Tre' Threat and redshirt freshman defensive backs Jamel Dean and Javaris Davis. Later, he said Illinois transfer and now Auburn linebacker T.J. Neal will be a factor.
Steele also said sophomore linebacker Montavious Atkinson "was very, very productive" in Auburn's first scrimmage.
"In fact he was the most productive player in the scrimmage if you factor in everything," Steele said.
Where do we begin?
"A guy like Daniel Thomas has shown sparks of being a guy that is emotionally and mentally mature," Steele said. "We scrimmaged and he went into the stadium for the first time and it was not too big for him. I use that as an example, but that's kind of what we're looking for in those young guys that have not played a whole lot is that when they get into those situations, particularly over at the stadium, it's not too big for him.
"We're teaching them to be mentally and physically mature, making sure that we're physical players and we're mental players as well. Then the other part is the emotional part of it, just 'when I make a mistake I have to play the next play.' Putting that all together Derrick Brown is another guy that is starting to slow flashes from a young guy.'"
An example of that is the play of Davidson and Threat, each of whom went through spring practice and "are progressing."
"They have their bad moments, but I think the thing that is most encouraging about that is when they have their bad moments, they play their next play with confidence. They don't look at the ground, bad body language, those kinds of things, and let one mistake be two or three more mistakes because they're thinking about something they shouldn't be thinking about. We're working on that really hard and made some progress with it."
Neal is new to Auburn, but no stranger to college football. He started 25 of the 37 games he played at Illinois.
"Things aren't too big for him," Steele said. "When you go out there in practice and it's two-minute (drill) at the end of the day, it's not just like a regular practice play and there is no end result. There is a winner and a loser, someone is coming off that field winning two minute or losing two minute. He goes out there in two-minute and is doing what he's supposed to do and executing it with ease. Why? He's been in two-minute situations in big games before at this level that shows up. He is a contact player. He fits the run, has good instincts in the run."
Charles Goldberg is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @AUGoldMine