3.28.24 Football Articles

[aubiefifty 16,791]

247sports.com

Blocton excited for his opportunity this spring

Jason Caldwell

7–8 minutes

Malik Blocton has come in ready to compete this spring for the Auburn Tigers.

AUBURN, Alabama—The younger brother of former Auburn defensive tackle Marcus Harris, Malik Blocton has spent years watching him play, picking his brain, and learning from him. Those have all prepared him for this moment when he gets his own shot to begin forging a pat at Auburn. Making some noise during bowl practices, Blocton is now on campus full-time and excited about what he's been able to accomplish very early in his Auburn career. That started with those bowl practices that showed him he belonged.

"It really boosted my confidence," Blocton said. "When I was coming in, I was questioning myself. Yeah, I did good in high school, but I wasn't really playing against good competition. But now, I'm going up against the best of the best every single day. When I came in and won some drills 1-on-1 and made some plays in some team periods, it really boosted my confidence and made me feel like I belong."

That has carried over to this spring as Blocton has continued to get bigger and stronger, and along with that become a more explosive player. With coach Vontrell King-Williams taking over and Lawrence Johnson sticking around as a student coach, Blocton said he's loving the instruction and the work they're getting done this spring.

"Spring has been amazing so far," Blocton said. "Getting to learn from Coach Vontrell and getting to learn from the other guys in the room. And my brother, he's still been around here. So he's giving me little pointers and stuff. Lawrence Johnson has been around here helping me a lot. All those guys just pouring into me, helping me be a better player."

In his first spring as the full-time defensive line coach after working alongside Jeremy Garrett last season, King-Williams sees a whole lot to like in Blocton.

"So here's the exciting piece about Malik: He's a young Marcus," King-Williams said. "You think about mentally, in the game, Marcus made a lot of plays. The reason why — and Marcus will be the first one to tell you, he wasn't extremely talented or the best or was blessed with the best tools — was that Marcus was a smart football player. 

"I see some of those things in Malik. The great thing about Malik is that he's a bit longer. He's a little bit more athletic than what Marcus was. So, you get to see some of those things. Malik plays with his hands. He's been coached before, he comes from a great program. So I'm excited to see what he turns into."

With just a handful of practices until the A-Day game on April 6, Blocton still has plenty to show before the Tigers head into the summer. While it's hard work, the early enrollee said he's having a blast and can't wait to get back on the field each day.

"It's been fun," he said. "It's been good because I've been getting some really good competition and making some good plays. Coach Vontrell told me the other day that I'm making some veteran-level plays, but I've got to fix some mistakes in my game. Some little stuff that can lead to big things."

[aubiefifty 16,791]

Auburn took a ‘risk’ on Sam Jackson V. How is the QB-turned-WR experiment coming along?

Published: Mar. 28, 2024, 6:30 a.m.

5–6 minutes

The post to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, came late at 9:36 p.m. on December 27.

And many of the reactions were along the lines of, “Wait, what?”

It was the kind of post that left people wondering whether a social media intern was about to be looking for a new internship. Because surely, that couldn’t be right.

The post was in reference to former Cal quarterback Sam Jackson V signing to Auburn... as a wide receiver.

“Wait, what?” was right.

Days later, in his press conference previewing Auburn’s Music City Bowl matchup with Maryland, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze addressed the fascinating, out-of-left-field addition to the Tigers’ wide receiver room.

“It’s a risk, probably,” Freeze admitted. “But I think he’s one heck of an athlete. I watched all of his high school receiving stuff and he caught all those balls from Payton Thorne. There’s chemistry there.”

Having both attended the same high school in Naperville, Illinois — a western suburb of Chicago — Jackson and Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne played a season of high school football together at Naperville Central High School in 2018.

Together, Jackson and Thorne went on to connect on 50 passes for more than 840 yards and 17 touchdowns that season.

And that previous connection that helped Jackson land at Auburn.

“That’s my best friend,” Jackson said of Thorne. “He’s one of the reasons I’m here.”

Thorne, Auburn’s incumbent starter at the quarterback spot, gushed about Jackson when asked about his former high school teammate.

“He’s one of the most freakish athletes I’ve ever seen in my life and I’ve played with some really, really good players. I’d put him right up there with the top of those guys,” Thorne said in an interview on Feb. 29.

However, his athleticism aside, the reality is Jackson hasn’t lined up at wide receiver since that 2018 season in high school. And because of that, when Jackson decided he wanted to switch back over to being a wide receiver — something that was totally his choice — he knew he’d have to sell himself.

“It’s the SEC; they can get whoever they want. And it’s Auburn — it’s not any other school,” Jackson said. “The main thing was just me being prepared for that.”

Fortunately for him, Freeze and Auburn’s staff were not only willing to listen to listen to his pitch, but were also willing to give Jackson a shot.

“I was honestly kind of... not really shocked, but just surprised that it went so smoothly,” Jackson said. “As soon as I hit the portal, I got to talk to Coach Davis, I got to talk to Coach Freeze. It pretty much went how I wanted it to go.”

Now, Jackson works everyday to prove Auburn’s risk paid off and that not only can he hang in the wide receiver room, but he can hang in an SEC-caliber wide receiver room.

Learning Auburn’s playbook has been the easy part, Jackson says, adding that it’s a payoff of being a former signal caller himself.

Meanwhile, the rest of it has taken a bit of adjusting to, he admits.

“Obviously high school and college are two different levels — the speed of the game is different, the competition is very different, and I’m in the SEC. So that’s different, too,” Jackson said. “It hasn’t been as difficult as I thought it would be because, obviously, I’m pretty gifted athletically.

“I think the main thing about it is learning the small things, the intangibles: hand fighting at the line with the corners, tracking the ball over my head, making sure the deep ball is coming over my shoulder, adjusting to the ball in the air.”

Ask Thorne and it sounds like the days of Jackson playing receiver are coming back to him pretty quickly.

Does Thorne expect the Cal quarterback-turned-Auburn wide receiver to have an impact on Auburn’s offense come the fall?

“No question. I 100 percent believe that,” Thorne said. “He’s hungry, he wants it, he’s working hard. When he gets back 100 percent it’s going to be fun to watch. He’s pretty close right now, but out there at practice one he’s out there making plays and getting open.

“He’s never — he hasn’t played receiver in five years, so as time goes on and he really starts perfecting his craft, he’s going to be a really good player.”

As it turns out, what Freeze once called a risk, might come with a reward.

I’m not afraid of the pressure. I know the lights are going to be on at all times,” Jackson said. “I’m looking forward to that, for sure.”

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

[aubiefifty 16,791]

al.com

Auburn LB Austin Keys: Last staff ‘didn’t have a person’ to turn ‘switch on or off’

Updated: Mar. 27, 2024, 12:07 p.m.|Published: Mar. 27, 2024, 12:07 p.m.

4–5 minutes

D.J. Durkin on getting another chance to coach college football after being fired from Maryland

Auburn linebacker Austin Keys already had a familiarity with new Auburn defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin from their time together at Ole Miss. But in a short time together re-united at Auburn, Keys took a subtle criticism at last year’s defensive staff.

“When I first got here we talked and he was asking what do you see in me that would help,” Keys said during a meeting with local reporters Tuesday before spring practice. “And I remember saying, last year we didn’t have a person that just knew how to turn the switch on or off. 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.”

Last year’s defensive coordinator Ron Roberts departed the staff for reported ideological differences. Roberts is now at Florida as the executive head coach and co-defensive coordinator.

He spent one year as the defensive coordinator at Auburn on head coach Hugh Freeze’s first staff. Freeze has said several times that he’s not made the right hires for his assistants right away at previous jobs.

There were reported disagreements within last year’s coaching staff that impacted the temporary stepping away for cornerbacks coach Wesley McGriff. McGriff briefly left Auburn for a job with Texas A&M, but within two weeks of his departure and after it became clear Roberts was going to Florida, McGriff returned to Auburn.

Early returns on Durkin at Auburn is a high-energy coach who runs intense practices.

“The thing I like most about Coach Durkin’s coaching style is the aggressiveness,” Keys said. “We always talk about how aggressive we want the defense to be and he never wants to back down from anyone or anything. Just Durk being who he is and giving people the opportunity to be aggressive without thinking, I feel like it will open the defense up more for opportunities to get the ball back for our offense.”

Durkin came to Aubrun after a stint as the defensive coordinator at Texas A&M after the same job at Ole Miss. Both SEC coordinator positions came after he was fired as the head coach at Maryland in 2018 in the wake of the tragedy and investigations surrounding the death of offensive lineman Jordan McNair who collapsed during a Maryland practice in May 2018.

The fallout from his tenure at Maryland has not been a point of discussion for head coach Hugh Freeze. Durkin largely sidestepped questions during his introduction to local reporters at Auburn when asked about second chances as a coach and how he’s changed since Maryland.

“I think there’s evolution always, I think in life and in coaching,” Durkin said on March 13. “I think I’m different this year than I was last year. I think you always learn. You look back, reflect and say what are things I could have done differently, done better. That’s part of the improvement. We always do it with our players, coaches do it for ourselves too -- evaluate how we do things better and differently. If you’re not growing or learning as a person, what are you doing?”

Auburn’s A-Day spring game is set for next weekend, April 6, with a 1 p.m. kickoff.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

[aubiefifty 16,791]

 

[aubiefifty 16,791]

 

[aubiefifty 16,791]

 

[aubiefifty 16,791]

 

[aubiefifty 16,791]

 

[aubiefifty 16,791]

 

[aubiefifty 16,791]

 

[aubiefifty 16,791]

 

[aubiefifty 16,791]

 

[aubiefifty 16,791]

this gives me chills...............

[aubiefifty 16,791]

have a great day my pretties.................

[TexasTiger 12,865]

9 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

 

He’s not wrong.

[JuscAUse! 1,410]

23 minutes ago, TexasTiger said:

He’s not wrong.

I HOPE...... that the older I get , the more I know that this is the truth. Or at least it WAS, before they all became pros. They're still 18-22 year olds, however.

[Swamp Eagle 5,136]

13 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

 

It’s a big reason Oregon has all that National Championship hardware…

Edited March 29 by Swamp Eagle

[aucanucktiger 1,794]

Can we somehow pin that Bo Nix interview here somewhere? About half this board need to listen to that in their sleep. 

[AU_Tiger_88 417]

On 3/28/2024 at 8:01 AM, aubiefifty said:

D.J. Durkin on getting another chance to coach college football after being fired from Maryland

This writer should be fired.  That is a terrible first line.  This isn't he first job post Maryland.  So this is another try to hit Auburn and put it in a bad light to any reader.  So let's rewrite that....

D.J. Durkin on getting another chance to coach college football after turning down Nick Saban's job offer to coach at alabama.  See how that works?

[JuscAUse! 1,410]

8 hours ago, AU_Tiger_88 said:

This writer should be fired.  That is a terrible first line.  This isn't he first job post Maryland.  So this is another try to hit Auburn and put it in a bad light to any reader.  So let's rewrite that....

D.J. Durkin on getting another chance to coach college football after turning down Nick Saban's job offer to coach at alabama.  See how that works?

Exactly. The headline for that story from a reputable news organization would be similar to..DJ Durkin hired by Auburn. But by the headline used , one sees everything wrong with the modern media in one sentence. They omit the fact that he has worked since Maryland and bring up the worst thing that happened during his career. The headline should be straight news and then the reporter can do the who, what, when , where in the article. Else it's an opinion piece and not news. 

This happens everyday, all day.

[gr82be 14,424]

On 3/28/2024 at 8:29 PM, Swamp Eagle said:

It’s a big reason Oregon has all that National Championship hardware…

His point has some merit regarding the difference in the conferences but I thought Bo had NFL aspirations. If he thinks they’ll just care about a guy doing his best win or lose, he best rethink that. It’s purely business and it will be more of an SEC mindset than PAC for certain. 
The fans do need to check some of the emotion but he’s not going to find a “laid back” atmosphere anywhere in the NFL. 
The problem at Auburn was that his two head coaches were too laid back to ever provide him with the tools to be as successful as he could have been. 

[Swamp Eagle 5,136]

7 hours ago, gr82be said:

His point has some merit regarding the difference in the conferences but I thought Bo had NFL aspirations. If he thinks they’ll just care about a guy doing his best win or lose, he best rethink that. It’s purely business and it will be more of an SEC mindset than PAC for certain. 
The fans do need to check some of the emotion but he’s not going to find a “laid back” atmosphere anywhere in the NFL. 
The problem at Auburn was that his two head coaches were too laid back to ever provide him with the tools to be as successful as he could have been. 

My first reply was tongue in cheek. He’s right, actually.

Edited March 30 by Swamp Eagle