3.27.24 Football Articles

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247sports.com

Austin Keys reunites with former Ole Miss coach DJ Durkin on Auburn defense

Nathan King

6–8 minutes

'Last year we didn't have a person that just knew how to turn the switch on or off.'

Shortly after arriving as Auburn's new defensive coordinator, D.J. Durkin had a familiar face he knew he wanted to seek out in the building. 

Durkin coached Auburn linebacker Austin Keys for two years at Ole Miss. They developed a close relationship, Keys said, and Keys was ecstatic to see a couple months ago that his new program had hired his former position coach.

His excitement stemmed from Durkin's impact as a coach, of course, but Keys said the defensive meeting rooms also needed someone like Durkin after last season under coordinator Ron Roberts.

Durkin sat down with Keys to catch up last month. He also had a question for Keys, as someone who was part of this Auburn team last year: "What do you see in me that can help?"

Keys was honest. 

"I remember saying, 'Last year we didn't have a person that just knew how to turn the switch on or off,'" Keys told reporters Tuesday. "Being off the field, he knows how to control his emotions. You can come to him as a person. And on the field, he knows how to switch it back on and coach football. That's one of my biggest things that stood out with Coach Durkin."

Durkin's insertion as Auburn's fifth defensive coordinator in as many years is obviously something Hugh Freeze hopes can take the unit to another level — albeit with a number of new pieces in place, particularly on the defensive line and in the secondary.

For Keys in particular — a returning starter in the linebacking corps, which is the experienced group on the defense — working with Durkin is something "I already know."

Keys dealt with an early season thumb injury in 2023, appearing in eight games with 30 tackles. He had three tackles for loss, two sacks and a forced fumble in the last five games of the year, and is ready to see what kind of impact Durkin can have on his teammates, given what he knows about his defenses.

Several players have talked this spring about Durkin's strength as a coach, which has already revealed itself to the Tigers: allowing players to play without thinking. Keys couldn't agree more.

"It's just Durk being who he is," Keys said. "He gives people the opportunity to be aggressive without thinking. He'll just open the defense up for more opportunities to get the ball back."

Auburn ended up No. 10 in the SEC in yards per play last season and No. 7 in scoring defense. Gone are NFL players like Jaylin Simpson, D.J. James and Marcus Harris, and leaders like Keys know it will be an uphill battle to replace them.

But he trusts Durkin to put the Tigers in position to do so successfully.

"I feel like there were a lot of missing pieces last year and we just didn't bond as well," Keys said. "Getting a new coaching staff to really just carry us and combine, I feel like it's going to be a working piece.

"... (Getting Durkin) was really something we needed." 

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Sam Jackson played at TCU and sees similarities in the 2024 Auburn team.

AUBURN, Alabama—A 4-star quarterback prospect out of Illinois, Sam Jackson V signed with TCU out of high school and following a redshirt season in 2020, played sparingly the next season as the Horned Frogs won just five games in the final year under Gary Patterson. Bringing in a few key transfers and a new coach the following season, TCU made a massive turnaround in year one under Sonny Dykes, advancing to the national title game before losing to Georgia. 

Following a season at Cal, Jackson is now at Auburn where he’s back playing wide receiver for the first time since his sophomore year of high school when he played with Payton Thorne. A few months into his first year with the Tigers and just over halfway through his first spring under Hugh Freeze, Jackson said there’s a lot to like about what’s going on with the program at the moment and he gets similar vibes to those he had while at TCU that magical season.

“I think it’s the way they cater everything to the players,” Jackson said of what gives him such a good feel about things at the moment. “The team is a player-led team as far as the locker room. The guys are pretty close. I’m new here. I just got here in January. I didn’t know what it was like to be around a lot of the guys last year. I can kind of tell based on who I talk to the most, they were telling me ‘this was going on last year and a lot of those things have changed.’ Coming from TCU, I was there for two years and I had Patterson my first year and Dykes my second year. It was kind of the same thing. 

“The same exact thing I was seeing at TCU is what I’m seeing here. You have a great head coach, a new offensive coordinator. Just being out there with those guys I can see they want to do this. I have been on a team that went from six wins to playing in the national championship. I kind of know what it feels like to be part of a team like that. I feel even more than that team, we’ve got the talent to do it and we’re definitely putting in the work for it.”

With Thorne as one of his close friends, Jackson already had a good idea of what to expect from Auburn well before he began looking for his future home. Getting to see the fanbase when the Tigers came to Berkeley last year, he said that he’s excited to see what life is like with the Tigers as they get ready to push for a championship this fall.

“When I was at Cal last year and we played Auburn, it was like we played at Auburn,” Jackson said. “That stood out to me the most, but really what stood out to me was that I got to talk to Payton. Payton was the starter here and the leader of the team. He was just telling me about the culture and I believed it because I know Payton wouldn’t sell me a dream. Once I got to talk to coach Freeze and once I got to talk to coach Davis, that’s what really sold me. I got to talk to AK, the recruiter. 

“Honestly, this is my third school. I have been through this process before, so I kind of knew what I was looking for. This is the culture I was looking for, for sure. I think we can win it all this year. That’s what I believe. I know our team believes that. We’ve got a lot of work to put it, but it’s pretty early in the year. That’s what I believe from the guys I have seen, the offense and defense, it’s looking pretty good right now.”

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l.com

Inside DL Gage Keys’ ironic and relationship-driven transfer to Auburn

Updated: Mar. 26, 2024, 4:32 p.m.|Published: Mar. 26, 2024, 3:19 p.m.

4–6 minutes

Two years ago, Auburn defensive lineman Gage Keys was living more than 1,100 miles northwest in Minneapolis, where he was a part of the University of Minnesota’s football team.

In that same boat at the same time was fellow Auburn defensive lineman Trill Carter, who arrived to Auburn’s Woltosz Football Performance Center alongside Keys on Tuesday afternoon — just as they do everyday.

“We ride to the facility together every day,” Keys said of he and Carter, who were roommates during their time at Minnesota.

In 2022, both Keys and Carter decided to transfer from Minnesota — Keys landing at Kansas and Carter landing at Texas.

After going their separate ways, while it seemed unlikely that the two former roommates would ever play alongside each other again, they never completely ruled it out.

“A little bit, yeah,” Keys replied when asked if there was ever a running joke that he and Carter would finish their college playing careers together.

On Dec. 14, Keys entered the transfer portal for the second time of his career and was hearing from a slew of schools, including Arkansas and Missouri, as well as other Power 5 programs.

Weeks later, on Jan. 5, Carter followed suit and entered his name into the transfer portal.

At this point, it’s known how the story ends: They both transferred to Auburn.

“It’s been good to be with him again, for sure,” Keys said of Carter. “As a young player, when I was young coming in, he kind of took me under his wing and helped me and taught me a lot of the things I know today.” Now, fast forward, both being older players (and) more experienced, it’s good to have him, just to go back and forth with each other, as far as film, scheme, whatever.”

And while the reunion with Carter has been one of the payoffs for Keys’ decision to transfer to Auburn, it was far from why Keys, who says he wasn’t even sure if Carter was going to leave Texas, made the decision to come to The Plains.

Instead, it was former Auburn defensive lineman Marcus Harris who helped seal the deal for Keys.

Like Keys, Harris also arrived to Auburn after having transferred from Kansas. And while the two never found themselves on the Jayhawks’ roster at the same time, the two always had that common.

“Talking to somebody who had been where I was and then came here — it was important to have that,” Keys said, adding that Harris helped him weigh the decision to transfer.

Since joining the Tigers, people have been quick to point to the fact that the last time Auburn landed a former Kansas defensive lineman out of the transfer portal — referring to Harris — it worked well.

Keys doesn’t mind the comparison at all.

“It’s definitely a good comparison as far as like one player coming from the same school and coming here,” Keys said.

However, Keys heeds that he and Harris’ playstyles aren’t that comparable.

“We definitely got different types of things about us, so you’ll be able to see that for sure, definitely, in the fall,” said Keys. “But yeah, it’s a cool comparison and it’s cool to be able to have guys who you can look up to like that and just watch their film.”

When asked to describe his playstyle, Keys quickly pointed out his versatility.

“What I’m good at is being very explosive. I’m a line player; very strong, big size,” Keys said. “So just being able to be versatile, pass rush, move around. I could play every single position on the D-line, and I’ve done that in spring ball.”

After Harris announced that he’d be foregoing his senior season and instead be entering the NFL Draft, Auburn’s defensive line became an area of concern.

The addition of Keys, who tallied 21 tackles and four quarterback hurries last fall, is expected to help remedy some of those concerns.

“I absolutely love Gage and I absolutely love Trill,” said Auburn defensive tackles coach Vontrell King-Williams. “Those guys have done some things that will put them in some good situations. Still gotta fix some technique things, but those transfers have been… we’ve hit on those two transfers for sure.”

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Grins...............i had to do it to see who is paying attention...........