Freeze Does Not Anticipate Changes to Auburn's Defensive Rotation as SEC Play Begins

Without a doubt, a major story for the Auburn Tigers this year has been their depth. It doesn’t seem to matter whether a player is inexperienced or a veteran; they’ll get playing time if the coaches think they’re ready.

Heading into the season, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said that he “couldn’t tell the difference” between starters and backups, particularly on multiple defensive positions. This became evident to as the season commenced, with the Tigers rotating in many freshmen, especially on defense, in their first few games.

With the team heading into SEC play on Saturday, Freeze does not see the Tigers making many changes with the rotation.

“I don’t think so,” Freeze said when asked if he’d dial back the defensive rotation. “I haven’t talked to DJ (Durkin) specifically about that, but we’ve been trying to get ready for this moment by playing those young kids because you know you’re going to have to have that depth in these games."

Freeze has the utmost confidence in his defensive depth chart, with nearly every single player listed as a starter in its Week 1 depth chart, and rightfully so.

The Tigers’ young core has made the most of their opportunities. Just one example of this is freshman Jared Smith recording two tackles for loss, including a sack and a forced fumble, in the South Alabama game.

Not to mention, with the grind of an SEC schedule, Freeze anticipates certain young players being forced to play due to inevitable injuries.

"Somebody inevitably will go down, and somebody has to step up and do that. For us, it’s going to be some young kids that are in those roles," he said. "Offensively, you’ve seen kind of who we’re going to play, and defensively, I would expect to see pretty much the same.”

The Tigers’ young core will look to continue to make their presence known, but they’ll have a tough road to do so; Auburn is headed into a tough SEC schedule, opening against Oklahoma, which has been fairly dominant all season.

They’ll head to Oklahoma to take on the 11th-ranked Sooners this Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CST. The game will be broadcast on ABC.

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