Jeffrey M'Ba on improving his game, continuing to lead at Auburn, standout teammates and more

AUBURN — With so much change in Auburn’s football program, Jeffrey M’Ba could have gone anywhere. Instead, he chose to remain on the Plains for this season.

The junior said that his transition wasn’t difficult, though, because the coaches all came in wanting to see this team succeed.

“Like I said, the transition was really fluid, really easy, because they know what they’re doing,” M’Ba said. “They know what they came here for. They came here to be the best in the country… It’s kind of easy, because when you get the ‘I want to be the best’ mentality it’s easy to go the same ways that they do.”

This past season was M’ba’s first at Auburn after transferring from Independence Junior College, where he was the No. 1 ranked player in all of JUCO. During the 2022 season, the defensive lineman played in 10 games where he recorded seven total tackles.

His journey wasn’t just transferring from junior college though, M’Ba is from Libreville, Gabon and moved to France five years ago to begin his football career for the Pionniers de Touraine.

During the spring, the 6’6″ junior has begun focusing on defensive end instead of multiple defensive line positions. Although he is larger than the average DE, M’Ba is quick and loving his new role.

“I feel like I’m something you don’t see often,” M’Ba said. “I’m a guy like, huge, but can move. So, I feel like d-end is for me, because every D-end you see, like, they’re smaller than me. When you think about a D-end you think about like… 280, but I’m 310… But I can be something like we didn’t see. I can be something really great and that’s what I’m trying to be.”

M’Ba’s other role on Auburn’s team

Outside of the impact that Jeffrey M’Ba should make on the field, his teammates know of him as someone who always brings energy and lights up rooms. The junior talked about the importance that he finds in getting to truly know each of his teammates.

“I want to know everybody because at the end of the day, when I’m at the field over there, I have to count on them,” M’Ba explained. “If I don’t know them, how can I count on them? I want to hear all kinds of stories, I want to hear everything from them. I want to know everything.”

M’Ba also talked about how grateful he is to be at Auburn. After going from Africa to France to Alabama, the junior never wants to take his blessings for granted and wants to remind his teammates how blessed they also are.

“… Obviously I’m going to be happy every day and I’m thankful about everything I’ve got, so I feel that’s why like people say I’m always happy and stuff,” M’Ba said. “I try to make people happy and understand that it’s a struggle to be a football player and we have so much to get from that. That’s why I’m always happy and always try to hype people up, because if I don’t do it, who’s going to do it.”

Teammates M’Ba has on his radar

When asked about specific standouts so far this spring, Jeffrey M’Ba gave multiple different answers and sang praises for multiple different newcomers on Wednesday afternoon. One of the names that the junior kept bringing up was Mosiah Nasili-Kite, a senior defensive line transfer from Maryland.

“Obviously like we’ve got a new guy, Mosiah (Nasili-Kite), he’s something else,” M’Ba said. “I love playing with him. We’ve got Lawrence (Johnson), too. We’ve got Justin (Rogers), he plays more like a nose. I was amazed by his speed, too. I was amazed by his speed, the way he moves for his size.”

“They bring different stuff to the table, like… but I feel like they’re what we needed to be great as a unit and they really are what we needed right now.”

M’Ba also talked about the new offensive linemen that he has been competing with during practices and praised the way that they have all meshed together so quickly.

“They’re pretty good,” M’Ba said. “I was amazed because they’re from different (teams). You always hear about like yeah SEC has the best o-line and stuff. But, yeah they’re pretty good. Gunner (Britton) is pretty good. Dillon (Wade) is pretty good, too. I’m excited to see them in a game now.”

Last but certainly not least, Keldric Faulk is one of the younger guys that might be seeing some quality playing time this season and M’Ba talked about how “special” he was as a player.

RELATED: Freshman Keldric Faulk may ‘have to play early’ on Auburn’s defensive line

“…I’ve watched him. Like, the way he plays- he plays hard, he gives everything he’s got all the time,” Jeffrey M’Ba said. “I don’t even think he’s lost one one-on-one… So that tells you how good he is. He’s not afraid to line up because everybody and all he thinks about is to be great and being around a kid like this is cool.”