Things are ‘goin’ good’ for Tyrone Truesdell

[aubiefifty 16,766]

Things are ‘goin’ good’ for Tyrone Truesdell

Today 9:05 AM

4-5 minutes

Tyrone Truesdell was the last player to wander into the media room after the Kent State game, so he got to speak from the podium rather than a chair in the corner.

After he settled himself behind it, there was a beat of silence before someone asked “How’s it going?”

With that, Truesdell broke into a huge grin and replied, “Goin’ good.”

That was an understatement. Things are going way more than “good” for Truesdell.

After three years, the junior defensive tackle has finally worked his name among the No. 1’s on the depth chart, and over the past three games, he’s proven he belongs there.

Truesdell’s 11 tackles in three games rank six on the team and first among the defensive tackles.

Before the 2019 season, Truesdell had a total of 18 tackles, 1.0 tackles for loss and two pass deflections over the course of 24 games.

“This year it was just, OK, you know this, you've got this,” Truesdell said. “Now this year was the put-it-all-together year.”

Truesdell spent a lot of time training behind Dontavius Russell, the Jacksonville Jaguars’s 2019 seventh-round draft pick. He said Russell, who made 49 starts and had 154 career tackles at Auburn, groomed him and taught him how to be a leader.

“Basically, when he left, he was basically leaving me the torch to go on ahead and show what I’m capable of — and what he knows I’m capable of, and everybody else,” Truesdell said.

Truesdell’s six tackles, one tackle for loss and half a sack against then No.10 Oregon demonstrated just what he was capable of, but one particular play helped solidify Truesdell’s confidence that he belongs in the starting lineup.

Up 21-20, Oregon decided to go for it on fourth-and-1 on Auburn’s 41-yard line. Backup quarterback Tyler Shough handed it off to CJ Verdell, who was met with a wall of resistance and tackled well short of the first down marker. Truesdell was still untangling himself from the pile where Verdell was brought down while the defensive backs went wild, running down the field with their arms in the air. Auburn went on to win it on its final drive of the game.

“That was big, just to know that one play had a lot to do with the win,” Truesdell said. “It really did a lot to me. It showed me that I can really make a difference.”

Truesdell has made a difference with his 11 tackles, which include three tackles for loss and two sacks for 10 yards, both the second most on the team behind only Marlon Davidson.

For a short time — the space of five defensive drives — Truesdell had the most sacks on the team.

Against Oregon, he helped sack Justin Herbert in the 27-21 win and went into the Tulane game tied for second with half a sack. No one was able to get to Justin McMillan in the 24-6 win against Tulane, so Truesdell remain tied with three other players for second.

On the first play of the second quarter against Kent State, Truesdell broke past the offensive linemen and got his arms around Dustin Crum, breaking Auburn’s sack drought and making him the team’s leader in sacks with 1.5 total sacks.

As he headed back to the sidelines, Truesdell was gloating a little, according to Davidson.

“Trues came to the sideline, 'Yeah, I got more sacks than all y'all,' ” Davidson said. “And I was like, 'Aight, you gotta get them, like two.' ”

Truesdell said he didn’t know quite how much that would spark the defense, which went on to sack Crum a total of five times, but he knew that, as competitive as his teammates are, as soon as he pointed that out, they would all try to best him.

Davidson did better than the two sacks he was going for. He got 2.5 sacks that game, pushing him ahead of Truesdell by 0.5 (Truesdell combined with Davidson for a sack), but Truesdell is happy with how well he’s done getting into the backfield.

It’s something he has been working on a lot, he said. He watches a lot of film of himself and of others, like Aaron Donald and Khalil Mack, and then he incorporates what he sees into practice to see if it works or not. Truesdell said he’s careful to look at a wide variety of examples, so he’s not just copying any one person as he shows he can “do a lot to help out Auburn.”

“I want to bring my own type of brand,” Truesdell said.

[dyehardfanAU 2,117]

He's been a beast so far and hasn't hit his ceiling.  If he keeps improving he'll be playing on Sundays next year.  Selfishly I hope he stays or it's going to make the DL look worse next season than it's already projecting to be.

[McLoofus 35,182]

19 hours ago, dyehardfanAU said:

He's been a beast so far and hasn't hit his ceiling.  If he keeps improving he'll be playing on Sundays next year.  Selfishly I hope he stays or it's going to make the DL look worse next season than it's already projecting to be.

Better than Devaroe Lawrence at this point, probably.