Auburn Tigers College Football Media Day Quote, 07/21/2022

On goals for the season and relationship with Eku Leota:

I watched Coach Harsin on SEC This Morning, and we didn’t have any intention on matching at all, so that was pretty cool. I shop at the Locker Room, and he shops at the Locker Room in Auburn, but like I said, there wasn’t any intention on matching. On the other hand, Leota is my right hand man. We train together, we work together. You know, we just talk, hang out, chill. Our relationship has definitely grown since the spring. We became very close. Big tight brothers. It seems like I’ve known him for forever, even though he’s only coming up on his second year at Auburn. The goals are still the same. My aspirations are still the same. We want to take this team to the next level on defense, so we have to come to work every day. We have to fulfill everything we said we were going to do.

On players coming up this season:

Obviously we have Zion [Puckett] back. He’s healthy, he’s good. Zion is really smart. He’s very detailed on what he does. He takes care of that back end. You have Donavan Kaufman, who played last year. He’s looking really good. Jaylon Simpson is back and healthy. You have Nehemiah [Pritchett] who played last year. I mean all those guys in the back end are doing a really good job. We have Owen back. He’s getting our guys right. On the defense, we are really cohesive looking good as a team. Moving around well, fitting well, meshing well. Our routes are coming out well, drops coming out well. Everything is looking well. I think we are looking really good right now in the off season.

On toughest offensive line in the SEC:

I would say Georgia. Alabama has those guys. They have Evan Neil, the center a few years ago who flatten my freshman year. Alabama has a few guys, but Georgia is all across the board. They play hard. They are physical, they’re tough, they’re strong. Their line coach does a good job with those guys. They move around well. They try to hone in on the small things to help you beat guys like that, because we lead as a D line and they lead as an O line. It comes down to little things, little match ups that you find. So, I would have to say Georgia.

On younger teammates stepping up this summer:

At this position, Dylan Brooks is looking really good. He’s moving along well. His training has changes, his body has changed. He is coming along really well. He is going to be a guy that really helps us out this year.