AUBURN, Ala. – What's it like to play defensive back? It's not easy. Just ask Auburn cornerback Javaris Davis, who currently leads the team with seven passes broken up.
"Besides quarterback, I feel like defensive back is one of the toughest positions to play in football," he said. "Just because it's on you most of the time. If you don't do your job, it's going to hurt the team because you're the last line of defense. A lot of people see that in a game, and they don't really know how hard the position is."
It takes a certain confidence or swagger to play the position, especially at Auburn. You've seen players like Joshua Holsey, Rudy Ford, Tray Matthews and Carlton Davis thrive with the Tigers in recent years before moving on to the next level. In fact, there are currently eight former Auburn defensive backs on NFL rosters right now – more than any other position.
This current group is no different. It features a number of confident players, young and old, who have the talent and potential to be playing on Sundays one day.
"We have a standard in our room, and it's very high," Davis said. "We set it among each other, and everybody knows that we have to have that swagger."
"We're just a bunch of fighters," added safety Jeremiah Dinson. "We want to compete each and every week. We don't care who the matchup is."
Ask the defensive backs about each other, and you'll quickly realize that every player in Auburn's secondary is a little different. Each one of them has their own story to tell.
For some, maybe it's battling back from injury. Both Dinson and cornerback Jamel Dean missed the entire 2016 season due to injury. Dinson was still recovering from a knee injury he suffered the season before against Texas A&M. And Dean, who redshirted in 2015 after transferring in, sustained a knee injury in fall camp leading up to the 2016 season. He sat out back-to-back seasons before he ever played a down at Auburn.
"At one point, I really thought there'd be no hope for me to play football because of all the injuries I kept facing," Dean said.
For others, it's the story of a less-heralded recruit finding his way to Auburn. Junior safety Daniel Thomas didn't receive his scholarship offer from the Tigers until the morning of signing day in 2016. Three years later, he leads the defensive back group with 45 tackles and two interceptions through the team's first eight games.
"Looking back, it's a blessing," Thomas said. "I don't take it for granted. I know I'm blessed to be here."
And then there's cornerback Noah Igbinoghene who teammates simply describe as "special" because at this time last year, he was a freshman wide receiver. Now he's starting at cornerback after making the transition to defense in the spring.
"Any time you have a guy that comes from receiver that plays DB and makes an immediate impact, you're special," Dinson said. "You're an athlete."
There are certain words they use to describe each other. For Igbinoghene, it's "athlete." They call Thomas the "hammer." "Speed" gets thrown around when talking about Davis, and they use "smart" to describe Dinson. For Dean, it's either "lockdown" or "linebacker" because of his size. The point is that each player in Auburn's secondary is unique in their own way.
But what defines this unit isn't how they play individually. It's how they play collectively as a group, and the chemistry they have together.
"I just feel like it's more of a bond that we have together," Dean said. "All of us are brothers, so when we go out to play, we're all playing for each other. And we know that each person is playing for each other. There's no individual stuff out there.
"No matter what goes down, we've got each other's back – right or wrong," added Thomas.
There were question marks after last season when Auburn lost three starters from the defensive backs room, including cornerback Carlton Davis – who is now starting in the NFL. But because of that bond together, this year's group has more than picked up the slack.
What's scary is that there's not a single senior in the room. That's not to say that one of the juniors won't leave early like Davis did a season ago, but there's a chance that this group could return fully intact next season. And with some of the impending departures on the defensive line and at linebacker, the secondary could easily become the strength of the defense.
It's also hard to ignore some of the young talent on the roster.
You saw it in the first game when freshman Smoke Monday helped seal a win over Washington with a sack late. You saw it again later that month when freshman Christian Tutt hauled in his first interception. The last time out against Ole Miss, it was freshman Jamien Sherwood who burst through the middle and sacked the quarterback on third down.
"Whenever you need a break, you know they're just as good," Thomas said. "They come in and make plays as well. That's very good for us."
It's an impressive freshmen group with Monday, Tutt, Sherwood and Roger McCreary, who has played more as the season has gone along. And to their credit, the upperclassmen have not only embraced those guys – they have done their part to prepare them each and every week.
"I think it goes back to that confidence," Javaris Davis said. "I feel like everybody knows that they're all talented in their own ways. Talent wasn't the issue. It's about being comfortable. So we're just trying to tell them, 'Play your game. Play comfortable and fast. And everything else is going to take care of itself.'
"We knew they were going to have play early and be a part of the success that we're trying to have. They know also that in order to finish this season strong, they're going to be key parts."
Everybody plays their part, and at the end of the day, it goes back to that bond. It doesn't matter if you're a cornerback or a safety, a junior or a freshman, everybody is playing for each other in Auburn's secondary. It truly is a brotherhood.
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @greg_ostendorf
