Chandler and KJ look to fortify LB depth

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K.J. Britt, Chandler Wooten hope to fortify Auburn's depth at linebacker

Updated on Mar 27, 2018 at 01:05 PM CDT

K.J. Britt earned a distinctive nickname during his freshman season at Auburn.

"We call him 'Downhill Britt,'" linebacker Deshaun Davis said in December. "He'll make a five-step run downhill, he sees the ball, he's gone."

The 6-foot, 239-pounder appeared in all 14 games last season and totaled four tackles. This spring, as he tries to work his way onto the field more at linebacker, Britt is trying to shake that nickname and become a more well-rounded player.

Halfway through spring practices, it has paid dividends for the former Oxford standout, who has been working behind Davis at middle linebacker but has received opportunities -- "a lot," according to Darrell Williams -- to run with the first-team defense at times.

"K.J., he's a physical player," Williams said. "His last season, we had to get him out of that downhill (mentality); he just wanted to play downhill, everything's a run, wants to be physical. But he's gotten out of that and becoming a more full-package linebacker. He's getting better at being more vocal."

Projected Auburn depth chart after first spring scrimmage

As one of Auburn's middle linebackers, being vocal is particularly important for Britt. Look no further than Davis, who excelled in that role last season while leading the Tigers in tackles and emerging as a leader and de-factor defensive coordinator on the field.

"He's a Mike linebacker, so he's doing a lot of that, he's calling everything out, and he's still being physical at the same time," Williams said. "He's not just downhill, just everything downhill, but he's gotten a lot better at everything, so I'm looking for a good season from him, too."

Britt isn't the only young linebacker looking to make his way into the rotation more this spring. Fellow sophomore Chandler Wooten appeared in eight games last season and finished with four total tackles, but this spring he has been working to earn more time at weakside linebacker behind Montavious Atkinson.

According to Williams, Wooten has been mixing in with the first- and second-team units as linebacker coach Travis Williams experiments with different linebacker combinations to see which groupings work best within the defense.

While Wooten and Britt aren't likely to start this season, barring injuries to Davis or Atkinson, they should factor more into the equation at linebacker with a full year's worth of experience under their belts and help fortify a linebacker corps that must replace the production of Tre' Williams.

"The young linebackers, they're doing good," Darrell Williams said. "They're a part of the process where I said those guys had a lot of improvement, and we're improving as a group. Those guys know they're a big part of that, especially K.J. Britt and Chandler Wooten. Those guys are coming along fast, real fast.

"They're playing a lot more this year. Coach T-Will like that. He likes to keep us fresh, and they'll help us out a lot this year. It's looking really good."