Oct. 6, 2016
By Charles Goldberg
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. - Full speed? That's Auburn's Montavious Atkinson.
"He's a rolling ball of butcher knives," says defensive coordinator Kevin Steele. "He's wide open. He plays very, very fast and has a nose for the ball and has really made a lot of improvement."
Join the club.
Steele praised the Tigers' linebacker corps this week, now five games into a season in which new linebacker coach Travis Williams has demanded, and received, the same enthusiastic play that made him an Auburn fan favorite from 2002-2005.
Tre' Williams, Deshaun Davis and Darrell Williams have been the starters, and have the third, fourth and fifth highest tackle totals on the team, but Atkinson and others have made plays, too, heading into Saturday's game at Mississippi State.
"The guys are producing," Steele said. "You can look at the numbers, you can watch the video and they're getting better each game. They're playing physical. They don't stay blocked. That's key.
"They're very well coached. I think they've taken a pride in the beginning. They were challenged, not externally, but that probably happened, too. But they were challenged internally because we had to make a significant jump in terms of production and consistency, simply because everybody thought there was none left. What are you going to do? They took that challenge pretty personal."
Auburn had to replace familiar starters Kris Frost and Cassanova McKinzy, Auburn's second and third-leading tacklers last season, and as well as starter Justin Garrett. Williams, Williams and Davis proved ready.
"Our coaches are really building us and molding us into who they want us to be and we're just playing with a lot of confidence right now," Davis said.
Davis said the transition started before the Birmingham Bowl last season when Travis Williams took over coaching the linebackers.
"We played the probably the best linebacker play we had seen the whole year, in my opinion anyways," Davis said. "When he took over in the spring, we found out he was going to get the job, we already knew the type of coach he was and how practice was going to be. It's really just trying to pass the torch on how great linebacker play should be because he's the last guy to win All-SEC as a linebacker here.
"He's really believes that someone in our room can be an All-SEC linebacker and we believe that. Our confidence is really high and we've just got to keep making plays within the system."
Davis saw limited action last season. He's making up for lost time.
"One thing that he has is he's very instinctive, very football smart," Steele said.
Steele said Davis' teammates have "have confidence in him out there for them to get lined up, to get the checks and those kind of things. He studies film, studies like a pro. A lot of times you see him out there he's telling guys what play is coming. That's unique. Hard to do."
Charles Goldberg is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @AUGoldMine