Jamien Sherwood

[aubiefifty 16,695]

A shy Jamien Sherwood is playing loud for Auburn football

Updated 12:35 PM; Posted 10:35 AM

Jamien Sherwood goes up for the first interception of his career against Alabama State earlier this season. On Saturday, he recorded his first career sack. (Michael Chang (Getty Images))

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By Sam Blum | SBlum@al.com

SBlum@al.com

There was a lot of empty space in the gap for Jamien Sherwood. Really, it was a clean shot at Ole Miss quarterback Jordan Ta’amu on a big third down in the red zone.

Sherwood, the Auburn freshman safety, assumed the Rebels offense would adjust their blocks, so that the guard or center would pick him up as he charged toward the quarterback.

Instead, though, that empty space stayed empty. And Sherwood sent Ta’amu back 10 yards with a thunderous hit — the first sack in his young college career during Saturday’s road win.

“I didn’t think it was possible,” Sherwood said of just getting a sack in general. “I didn’t think it was going to happen. I got the chance. Coach gave me my chance to go.”

Getting a chance has been the theme of Sherwood’s inaugural season for the Tigers (5-3, 2-3 SEC). He’s played in every game this season, and has at least one tackle in seven of those eight games. He’s got an interception and four pass deflections.

On a team with several freshman contributors, some more boisterous than others, the rather tempered Sherwoood has a game louder than most others around him.

“I was always concerned with him getting acclimated, but I saw he adjusted quickly,” said his mother, Venetia Johnson-Lynch. “And I thought he could have a pretty good chance to get in and make some plays throughout the season.”

Sherwood has been at Auburn since January — a fact which he says helped his transition and allowed him to be a contributing part of the defense since his arrival.

The Jensen Beach, Florida native was somewhat of a late bloomer in the recruiting world. As of last summer, he was still a three-star recruit — though he ended up as a four-star when it was all said and done.

He got a couple offers in his sophomore season, but the majority came around the end of his junior year. Auburn offered him on April 6, and remembered confidently that it was a Wednesday. He remembers it because he was on the phone with assistant coach Greg Brown, and Sherwood told him he’d be in town for the spring game.

The somewhat unheralded, shy kid from a small town in Florida, is now making big sacks on the biggest stage of college football.

“Jamien, we call him like a freak athlete,” said fellow freshman DB Christian Tutt. “I knew he could do it. He can pretty much do anything.”

Sherwood was never someone that wanted to prove people wrong, his mother said, though she acknowledged that “he doesn’t externalize a lot of things that he thinks about.”

Sherwood comes from a family of five siblings, including a brother who is an MMA fighter. His mom, Johnson-Lynch, comes up for every home game and almost every road game. He’s got a big family that is perpetually showing Sherwood their support.

But one person who’s become like his best friend is probably one of Auburn’s most outspoken freshmen. Smoke Monday. They first met at a barbecue last summer, they took a visit to another college together, and eventually decided to commit to the same school, where they take many of the same classes. He acknowledged that Monday is more “outgoing,” while he’s more “laid back.”

But that contrast works for him, both in his friendships, and in pretty much everything he does on and off the field.

“He’s a little more shy than me,” Monday said. “I play with a swagger. Everybody plays with a swagger. Jamie has a little swagger of his own.”

It’s that little, somewhat undefined swagger and confidence that has kept Sherwood a little bit low-key, while still performing to the level where everyone is starting to take notice.

He might have surprised even himself with his sack on Saturday, but he and everyone else are becoming less surprised by his abilities.

“I worked so hard for this from my sophomore year all the way up until now to get my chances in the game,” Sherwood said, show my family what I can do, all my friends and family what I can do, coaches, coaches here and back home.”

[3rdgeneration 6,469]

I noticed when his name was called on the QB sack last week. Keep laying the wood to 'em, Jamien!

[Tigerfinz 1,362]

Great youth on this team...

[CR 2,427]

Trainwreck of a season, but Sherwood and Smoke have really been coming on. Lots of hope for the future there.

[doc4aday 1,887]

our youth is a special group that I hope will translate into a 10 win season for 2019. That would be awesome if Gus can get out of Gus' way and let the youth movement pave the way.  Does anyone think Davidson will be back for his senior season? I know Brown will not, but I hope Marlon will come back.

[LKEEL75 2,566]

1 hour ago, doc4aday said:

our youth is a special group that I hope will translate into a 10 win season for 2019. That would be awesome if Gus can get out of Gus' way and let the youth movement pave the way.  Does anyone think Davidson will be back for his senior season? I know Brown will not, but I hope Marlon will come back.

Personally I don't think either of them will be back next year.  

[Auburn Kev 1,653]

Quote

Auburn's early enrollee safeties establish freshman roles in defense

 

 

Robin Conn/AuburnSports.com

Ben Wolk • AuburnSports.com

@benjaminwolk

 

AUBURN — The future of Auburn's safety position, in some ways, began on an official visit to the University of Louisville.

In the fall of 2017, Jamien Sherwood and Smoke Monday had already committed to Auburn. They'd both made those decisions in the summer before their senior seasons. As is often the case, the committed prospects diligently approached the recruiting process with just-in-case official visits to other places, including Louisville.

By that time, Sherwood and Monday knew they were future Tigers. They just wanted to be sure. The future teammate time in Louisville, Ky. — compounded with a few experiences together on the Plains — helped build that relationship before the two early enrollees arrived on campus.

"My first time meeting Smoke was at the barbecue last summer. We got each other’s numbers. We went on a visit to somewhere else together," Sherwood said last week. "We just hit it off. We knew we were coming here. We knew this is where we wanted to be."

The message from Auburn to the safeties was clear: You are the future of the position.

Auburn had gone through a bit of a safety lull in recruiting.

Jordyn Peters, the only listed safety from the 2017 class, projected more at the nickel in Kevin Steele's defense. In the 2017 class, Marlon Character Jr. left the team before making an impact. Auburn struck a fortunate gold mine with Daniel Thomas. Jeremiah Dinson was a position shift from cornerback to safety.

Steele and defensive backs coach Greg Brown knew they needed two cornerstone safeties in the Class of 2018 to solve it. They found Monday and Sherwood early in the spring, pursued them as their top two targets at the position and were successful.

"Me and Jamien, we knew that we were the only safeties coming in together, and we just created that bond to stick together," Monday said. "We helped each other out, and when we got here, Daniel [Thomas] and Jeremiah [Dinson] and Javaris Davis and [Jamel] Dean, they brought us in and kept us tight. They kept working us. ... We’re going to be special."

Sherwood and Monday have each shown their special flashes early in their careers.

Monday, who came in with slightly more publicized hype, made his presence felt — at least in the eye of the public observer — Week 1 against Washington. His game-clinching sack gave the Tigers the early-season momentum it needed. Sherwood's highlight play came in interception form against Alabama State and a sack against Ole Miss. Sherwood's consistency, which has resulted in Auburn's best Pro Football Focus grade, has given coaches early confidence to put him on the field.

Their fast track to the field was sparked by their decisions to enroll in January — with the understanding they had to be ready as true freshmen.

"I feel like, since I came in the spring, that’s what really got me my shot to play as much as I did so far. Because when I first got here, I was just a freshman, never played in that type of defense before, and I just had to get used to it and be able to memorize everything," Sherwood said. "I feel like if I would’ve came in the fall, right before fall camp, I wouldn’t have got the chance to adjust to all of it as quickly as I adjusted, and get my as opportunities as I do."

As the cliche goes, this far into the season, they're not freshmen anymore. Sherwood and Monday have each seen their weekly snap totals increase, seeing a significant jump against Ole Miss in Jeremiah Dinson's first-half absence.

They bring a different style to the field, much like they do off it.

Sherwood operates in silence, more or less. He brings a calmer role to the safety tandem. Monday is well-documented as one of the team's most notable trash talkers. He's not afraid to speak his mind or hit somebody. Both players' on-field playing style matches their off-field personality.

It's a compatible blend that makes the future of Auburn's safety position one the rest of the country will soon know well.

"You know there’s always like, there’ll be two brothers, one of them will be more outgoing and one will be more in the back. That’s exactly how we are. I like to be in the corner, and he’s, like, front and center," Sherwood said. "Coach Steele told us on our visits that he was going to give us our opportunity. Coach Brown said they were going to give us a fair opportunity — Smoke and I. That’s exactly what they did. I just run with it and try to make as many great plays as I can."

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[bigbird 60,368]

 

13 hours ago, Auburn Kev said:

...We’re going to be special."

They sure will!  They haven't even scratched the surface of their potential.  I love that CGB is the one directly over them.

 

Sherwood = 

 

Smoke = 

[gr82b4au 5,568]

Op- Thanks for posting