AUBURN, Ala. – If anybody knows how good this Auburn defense is, it's Jarrett Stidham. The junior quarterback faces them every day in practice.
"We've got a lot of guys that know how to play really fast football," Stidham said. "And they're usually always in the right place because Coach [Kevin] Steele – he doesn't do a lot of crazy stuff. He lets his athletes go play. And they're all athletes, and they all make plays."
Stidham believes Auburn should be in the mix as one of the nation's top defenses this coming season, and his teammates on that side of the ball agree. This was a unit that ranked among the SEC leaders last season in points (18.5) and yards (319.4) allowed per game. It was stout on third down and in the red zone, and with 37 sacks, the Tigers knew how to get after the quarterback.
Key players are gone like Jeff Holland, Tre' Williams, Carlton Davis and the two starting safeties, Tray Matthews and Stephen Roberts. But there's plenty of talent returning, especially up front, and there's a certain swagger or confidence that goes with playing on the Auburn defense.
When linebacker Deshaun Davis went to SEC Media Days and said Auburn would have the league's best defense this fall, he meant it.
"Film speaks for itself," Davis said. "And then just the way I've seen my guys working, the way I know I've been working, the way we've been talking and pushing each other, motivating each other. We're ready to get better. We're not happy with how we've finished as a team or as a defensive unit. We know that there's more meat on the bone. There's still something there that we can accomplish, and we're trying to find that niche. We're trying to ring the bell every single day to get better and make our team better."
Davis is part of a veteran linebacker corps that features fellow seniors Darrell Williams and Montavious Atkinson. The trio combined to make 182 tackles last year, and there's depth, too, with players like K.J. Britt and Richard McBryde waiting in the wings.
But the real strength of this Auburn defense will be up front on the defensive line where Dontavius Russell, Derrick Brown, Marlon Davidson and Nick Coe are all returning. It's a group that's big, strong, athletic and full of future pros. Russell, Brown and Davidson have all received numerous preseason accolades, and Coe was the Defensive MVP of the spring game.
"I feel like we play well together," Russell said. "We've been together. We have that chemistry to know how other people are going to react to certain things. We have depth. We have talent. We have all those things you want to look for in a unit, especially on the defensive line.
"I think it puts us in the position to be considered one of the better defensive lines. We still have to go out and perform to that expectation."
With Holland gone to the NFL, it creates a void at the Buck position. However, T.D. Moultry and Big Kat Bryant have both bulked up this offseason and both look primed for a breakout season – similar to the one Holland enjoyed a year ago as he led the team with 13 tackles for loss and 10 sacks.
If there was one question mark on this defense, it could be in the secondary where Auburn had three starters move on to the next level.
Davis doesn't see it that way, though, not with the likes of Jeremiah Dinson, Daniel Thomas, Jamel Dean, Javaris Davis and Jordyn Peters back there. There's more than enough talent. It's just a matter of gaining experience, finding leaders and playing together as a unit. Dinson, in particular, has emerged as a leader for that group this summer per his teammates.
There's also a trio of freshman – Christian Tutt, Smoke Monday and Jamien Sherwood – who arrived in January and who expect to make an impact in the secondary this season.
"I'm not really worried about our back end," Davis said. "A lot of people say it's a concern, but I think we can be really good on defense as a whole."
The standard has already been set. Now the Tigers have to live up to it.
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @greg_ostendorf