Auburn linebacker De’Marcus Riddick has his ‘confidence’ back

Auburn football linebacker De'Marcus Riddick looks to have his confidence back intact, and Auburn coaches and players have taken notice.

Riddick missed the Tigers' last two games of the 2025 season with an injury. He has played in 22 games during his first two seasons with the Tigers. The Alabama native has racked up 40 total tackles, six tackles for loss and four sacks in those games.

Auburn's defensive coordinator DJ Durkin has noticed a different level of confidence from Riddick as of late.

"I just had a conversation with De'Marcus about a week ago about this very thing," Durkin said. "I just noticed his confidence is back, and that's a huge thing for him and for us. I think DeMarcus is, you know, an elite player and definitely has the ability to play this game for a long time. And so him feeling confident and healthy and back to himself is a major deal for our defense, and we're certainly gonna count on De'Marcus and utilize him in a lot of spots too. We were talking about versatility with Champ a minute ago. De'Marcus has great versatility. He can play both inside and outside. He's a good blitzer. He can cover. He's one of those guys at linebacker that checks all the boxes."

Xavier Atkins, who is expected to be one of the best linebackers in college football, is excited to have the linebacker playing alongside him.

"You just can't gameplan for one linebacker," Atkins said. "If you do it, you've got two or three other linebackers you have to gameplan for. It's a big deal for us. He is getting his confidence back. You can just tell."

Having Riddick back on defense this fall can be big for the Tigers.