Projecting success: Auburn's most important players, No. 27-23

This begins a series from Auburn Live on the most important players to the 2022 Auburn football team.

This isn’t the “best” players, although there will be overlap.

The goal is to talk about the “most important” players to Auburn winning football games. If Auburn is going to reach seven, eight, nine or more wins, what players are the most important to making that happen? That’s the goal.

Talent, depth at the position, position of utmost importance, there are numerous factors taken into account. Of course, this is subjective and we welcome the debate on The Corner message board and within our community. Trying to rank these players certainly isn’t an exact science, as we’re judging both past performance and expectations moving forward.

Here was No. 32-28. Make sure you didn’t miss it.

With that, let’s dive into the list, starting with No. 27-23.

No. 23, Cayden Bridges

Watch out for Cayden Bridges. The sophomore from Mississippi made plenty of positive impressions this spring. His position coach, Zac Etheridge, called Bridges an “explosive” player and “one of the best players” in terms of athleticism on the Auburn football team. That’s a big statement. Bridges was named Special Teams Player of the Week twice by assistant Roc Bellantoni. Bridges is 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, he played baseball in high school, and has all the makings of a rising star this fall.

No. 24, Ja’Varrius Johnson

It’s Ja’varrius Johnson‘s time to shine, right? The On3 Consensus 4-star speedster in the slot flashed at times last fall with 19 grabs for 274 yards and two scores, including a long one on the road at Arkansas. The Auburn coaches talked during the spring about needing to incorporate Johnson more into the Auburn offense this upcoming fall. There are many factors that will go into making that possible, but Johnson is another one that could end up much higher on this list of importance by season’s end. Think about the impact Ryan Davis made on the Auburn offense in 2017. Johnson isn’t going to catch 84 passes, but he needs to have an impact on the football game from the slot nonetheless.

No. 25, Jeffrey M’ba

A On3 Consensus 4-star defensive tackle, and the nation’s top junior college prospect, Jeffrey M’Ba could be a monster in the middle, but we’ll have to wait and see. Standing 6-foot-6 and 300-plus pounds, M’ba has unique change-of-direction skills for his size, and appears to be an extremely motivated player. Miami, Tennessee, Oklahoma and more didn’t offer M’Ba for no reason. The ceiling is probably higher than his standing on this list, but after missing the spring, we’re still waiting to see M’Ba against SEC competition on a regular basis.

No. 26, Donovan Kaufman

Donovan Kaufman is going to be an interesting player to watch this season. Kaufman rotates between safety and nickel, but will play mostly nickel this season after tallying 33 tackles and one interception last fall. There’s times where Kaufman struggled in coverage last season, and there were times where Kaufman was opportunistic, forcing three fumbles. That number led the defense. After coming from Vanderbilt with Derek Mason, and Jeff Schmedding saying much of the defense will remain the same, Kaufman’s experience should pay dividends.

No. 27, Craig McDonald

The addition of Iowa State transfer Craig McDonald at safety could be flying under the radar in terms of overall importance. McDonald finished with 41 tackles and two picks last season in Ames, but arrives at Auburn hoping to help fill a position that lacks experience after Smoke Monday departed to the NFL. Standing 6-foot-3 and 200-plus pounds, the biggest thing that stands out about McDonald will be his presence in run support. I almost didn’t include McDonald into this list among the most important players, but a source within the football program convinced me otherwise. For the most part, Bryan Harsin and Co. aren’t bringing in transfers to simply add some bodies on the back end. Expect McDonald to compete for serious playing time.