April 17, 2018
By Greg Ostendorf
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. -- Dontavius Russell finished up his final spring as an Auburn Tiger last week. There was some thought that the 6-foot-3, 310-pound defensive lineman would leave school early and declare for the NFL draft, which begins next Thursday. But he opted to return, instead, with the intention of graduating and playing out his final season.
Russell is on pace to graduate this summer, and he believes the team Auburn has coming back can exceed what the Tigers accomplished a year ago.
This was your last spring. Was it everything you ever hoped and dreamed it would be?
Russell: "I mean it was just spring. It was just spring football again. This is probably the least I've ever done in the spring. I don't want to say it was better because of that, but it was definitely an enjoyable spring. I got out without any injuries after five years, so happy about that."
As a senior, you've been through this before. What was your focus during spring practice?
Russell: "When you've been here for so long and being a starter for the past three seasons, it's almost more like I'm competing with myself sometimes, and I think that's way harder than ever competing for a spot with someone else. So I've just been working on trying to steadily improve my game day by day, like they've been telling you to do for years, but now it's even more realistic that you really don't compete directly with someone because I have been a three-year starter and I expect to be the same coming up this next year."
Has it hit you that this is your last year? Or will that happen closer to the season?
Russell: "The thing is, last season I thought it was going to be my last everything. So I've already went through, 'This is my last spring' and 'This is my last first game' and all that different type of stuff. So now I feel like I'm just at ease playing football. I'm just way more relaxed than I was last year because I feel like I was pressing, trying to do more because I did think it was my last season -- I wanted it to be my last season -- but it didn't turn out that way and I decided to come back because I wanted to be a part of the team again."
What's it going to be like when you watch the NFL draft next week knowing that could have been you?
Russell: "It will be more of a thing you joke about more than something that you actually are like, 'Dang man, that could've been me.' I'm going to still be happy for those guys from Auburn that get drafted, but I think it's more of a motivating factor that comes in from them being drafted because a lot of those guys I got here before. Like Jeff (Holland), I was here a year before him. Carlton (Davis) as well. I'm seeing people from my class making it and getting viewed by the NFL, so it makes me feel like I can do it even more than I felt last year."
The defense seemed to get the upper hand this spring. Is that how you saw it?
Russell: "I mean any time we go out and compete, Coach (Kevin) Steele says it doesn't matter who we play, what time we play or when we play. The unfortunate thing about spring is we've got to play against our teammates. We've got goals we try to meet and we met most of them throughout the spring, and I think that just reflects on the way we go about every scrimmage and every game. I just think that's the outcome, with us winning the most."
What's the goal for this defense this coming season?
Russell: "I hate to quote Ricky Bobby, but if you ain't first, you're last. I think we're trying to be the best defense there is or the best defense we could possibly be because I feel like we've progressed every year. Coach Steele always says we started this thing three years ago, which we did, and we've improved steadily each year. So hopefully this will be one of the best seasons that we have as a defense, especially with our defensive line getting looked at the way it is. People are saying that we have a chance to be the best defensive line in the country. I just think that it sets our defense up overall to be a better defense."
What's it like playing next to guys like Marlon Davidson, Derrick Brown and Nick Coe? Does it make you a better player?
Russell: "It makes it easier. I feel like you can't scheme anybody. There were times where I would see certain guys get schemed out of games because you could just focus on that one guy, but now we've got so many people playing well, you don't know where the pressure will come from, from which member of the defensive line. Even when people roll in behind us, it's almost like the same guy is coming back into the game. So I just think it takes a lot of pressure off of one guy, and it creates the situation where everybody can just play football and they're not getting schemed by the offense because you don't know who to scheme."
How are you a different player from when you first got to Auburn?
Russell: "I'm a smarter football player than I was when I first got here. I play about 80 percent of the snaps way before it's ever played, and I'm just seeing things, I'm talking more to my teammates -- I just feel like I have more knowledge about football than I had when I first got here. At first, I was relying on mainly just athleticism. And then the thing about it, I was relying on athleticism, and a lot of people were bigger, stronger and faster than me. And now I've gotten bigger, stronger and faster, so I think I'm a better athlete than I was when I got here -- I'm a way better athlete than when I got here. I'm better technique-wise. I just feel like I'm playing my best football right now, so hopefully it translates over to this season."
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @greg_ostendorf