Ron Roberts wants to see leadership from veteran Auburn defenders

As Auburn prepares to launch the Hugh Freeze era in earnest, a handful of veteran Auburn defenders are doing what they can to ensure the secondary is up to snuff.

Two in particular have taken up a leadership mantle: cornerbacks Keionte Scott and Nehemiah Pritchett.

“Yeah, both of them, along with about six, seven guys that we’ve kind of leaned on, the leadership right now is probably moreso from how they conduct their business,” defensive coordinator Ron Roberts said. “We would like it to step into moreso how I can lead the individuals on this football team to become better. I think we need to take some strides forward with that if I’m being blunt about it.”

Auburn finished the 2022 season ranked around the middle of the pack nationally in passing defense, though it’s worth pointing out that teams didn’t always have to press things offensively to beat the Tigers.

The Tigers finished the year ranked 60th in pass defense, giving up 222.6 yards per game through the air.

For Roberts, that’s not good enough, nor will it cut it in 2023. Auburn has to be significantly stiffer against the pass to give an offense that will need to adjust to Freeze’s system the time to do so. It’ll be up to the veteran Auburn defenders to make that happen.

“We’ve got to take strides forward,” Roberts said. “The idea of leadership is how can I help others around me be the best they can be? How can I lead someplace they can’t go by themselves? So they’re doing a lot of things of being the player on and off the field that we want them to be. I need them to pull the other people with them.”

The way that Roberts has structured things, veterans are with the younger players at just about every turn. He wants the younger players learning from players who have already experienced some college ball.

But the key is making sure the young players actually get a chance to go out there and rep themselves.

Watching the veteran Auburn defenders only gets you so far.

“We want them to get as many reps as possible,” Roberts explained. “Any time we get into a situation we can do it we’re trying to get them behind a veteran so they can see the alignments, the adjustments. Then what should they sound like, what kind of communications are they making on the field, how can they talk to each other. Those things will hopefully help bring them on a lot faster.”