Missouri’s Kris Abrams-Draine knows better than anyone just how good Auburn cornerback [autotag]D.J. James[/autotag] is. The duo played at Spanish Fort High School together and they are now both dominating in the SEC.
“D.J. is like my best friend,” Abrams-Draine said at SEC Media Days. “He’s been locking down receivers since high school.”
Missouri originally recruited Abrams-Draine as a wide receiver before transitioning him to cornerback and James was someone he leaned on during the process.
“When I changed to DB, I asked (James) a lot of questions because I knew he’d lead me in the right way,” Abrams-Draine said. “But he’s a great person, too.”
He has now appeared in 23 games as a cornerback for Missouri and has emerged as one of the best in the conference, making 85 tackles, picking off three passes and breaking up 24 passes over the past two seasons. His performance generated plenty of NFL buzz but he elected to return for one more season to attempt to boost his stock even more, which is exactly what James did.
He and fellow Auburn cornerback [autotag]Nehemiah Pritchett[/autotag] form one of the best duos in the SEC and have made cornerback the strength of Auburn’s defense ahead of the 2023 season.
“He’s got perfect technique,” Abrams-Draine said of James. “He’s patient on his backpedal, and he’s just natural. He’s a natural cornerback.”
James quickly emerged as Auburn’s top corner last season after transferring from Oregon. He made 37 tackles, picked off one pass and defended eight more.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1364]
Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow JD on Twitter @jdmccarthy15