10-man defensive line rotation

[aubiefifty 16,766]

How close is Auburn to identifying its desired 10-man defensive line rotation?

Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

One thing stands out to Kevin Steele when he walks into Rodney Garner's defensive line meeting room: depth.

"When you walk in that room, you can see the grocery shelves are stocked, and they might not all be ready to play right now, but there's a plan for them," Steele said.

There has been no shortage of depth along Auburn's defensive line since Steele arrived last year, and it showed in 2016 as the unit had a defensive revival up front, leading to an improved rushing defense, improved pass rush and vastly improved third-down defense while rotating 10 defensive linemen the majority of the season.

That's the goal once again in 2017 for Garner, even after losing four of those rotation players, two of which -- Carl Lawson and Montravius Adams -- were starters along the line.

"My goal always is if we can get 10 guys that can play at a championship level, that's my target number," Garner said last week. "We've got to get a few more guys to elevate their status."

Garner's desire for such depth along the defensive line is largely out of necessity. With so many teams running up-tempo, spread-style offenses, making sure the big guys in the trenches stay fresh is key. Not only does Auburn's defense need to prepare itself for such scenarios in the fall, but the unit needs to keep up the rotation in practices while going up against offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey's no-huddle scheme.

RELATED: Auburn installing key defensive package in final week of spring

"Teams that don't rotate, they wear down and run out of gas," Garner said. "My philosophy is that once a big man runs out of gas, it's hard to refuel him. You're not going to refuel him in-game. It's like a plane in-flight. If that plane runs out of gas over the Atlantic Ocean, it's over. It's going down, so you better keep your fuel up. That's my philosophy around playing them.

"We want them to play the fourth quarter like they play the first one, but we can't do that if we don't rotate, if we ain't keeping them fresh. If we're sitting there telling them to run to the ball, if we're expecting that, then we got to be realistic with how we pace it."

Part of the goal this spring for Garner and Steele has been to identify the players they feel can contribute to that regular rotation, identify how many of those players they have, and figure out what needs to be done between now and the season opener on Sept. 2 against Georgia Southern to get to Garner's goal of 10 game-ready defensive linemen.

 

Projected Auburn depth chart for Week 5 of spring practice

Take a look at Auburn's projected depth chart for the final week of practice before A-Day

 

So, with just three practices -- including Saturday's A-Day game -- remaining this spring, where does Auburn's defensive line stand in that regard?

"I think we're getting close to the seven, eight mark," Steele said Tuesday following the team's 12^th practice of spring. "And we've got freshmen coming in. Obviously, we had two freshmen that factored into that last year in Derrick (Brown) and Marlon (Davidson). So, we could get to that. And obviously, they will be at different levels. They're not going to be Marlon, they're not going to be Dontavious. But they can do what they can do well and we'll call it that way, and get some reps, meaningful reps."

As for who those seven or eight players are, neither Steele nor Garner addressed that list specifically, but there are seven returning defensive linemen with considerable experience this spring, plus two others who have garnered much discussions among teammates and coaches.

Auburn returns Davidson, Jeff Holland as its likely starters on each end, with Dontavius Russell returning at nose tackle, and Brown and Andrew Williams vying for the starting defensive tackle spot. There's also Byron Cowart, who has moved inside to tackle from defensive end. That's six who all factored into the 10-man rotation last year.

There's also Paul James III, who appeared in three games early last season before a knee injury sidelined him for the remainder of the year. James is rotating behind Holland at the Buck position, but is still having some issues -- either mentally or physically -- overcoming the knee injury. The other two likely candidates are redshirt freshman Nick Coe, who was close to seeing the field last year while spending most of practice with the second-team defense and is working behind Davidson at defensive end this spring, and sophomore Tre' Threat, a converted linebacker who is vying for time at Buck this spring.

Then, of course, there's the freshmen that Steele alluded to, with four-star signee Markaviest Bryant the most likely to factor into the equation at Buck once he arrives this summer.

 

Bryant 'ready to get to work' at Auburn

Bryant racked up 102 total tackles with 36.5 for loss, 15.5 sacks and 66 quarterback hurries as a senior last fall

 

While Auburn is unlikely to establish that 10-man rotation by the end of spring, there remains ample time to get to that magic number.

"It's just the philosophy, I think it helps us with performance in the fourth quarter," Garner said. "It helps the morale of the room. It helps in practice. Guys know that, hey, if I go out there and bust my butt and I'm coachable, I'm fundamental, I'm sound in what I'm doing and not busting my assignments, I can do it at a championship level, then I know that Coach will play me on Saturday. I think that's good.

"I really think that's good for them. I think it helps them stay on track academically, socially, spiritually -- everything. I think it's a healing process."

[weagl1 1,782]

I have always believed the DL is the biggest thing that separates the great teams from the others.  Cam carried us a lot of the year in 2010 but Nick Fairley was the key to beating Bammer and Oregon because they couldn't block him.  

[G8orH8or 61]

OL and DL are deciding factors between good teams and great teams.