Tag: derick hall

Three defensive keys to stopping Mercer in season opener

The Tigers face off against a run-heavy bears team to kick off the year.

Sure, Mercer isn’t the hardest opponent the Tigers will face this year, but it’s an opponent nonetheless.

There’s a lot of excitement buzzing around incumbent starter T.J. Finley and the Auburn offense, of course, but the Tigers will have to remain vigilant on the other side of the ball regardless of how talented the Bears’ roster is. College football has taught us all that it is important to never overlook any opponent, and Auburn should know that well — it was almost on the receiving end of an upset at the hands of Georgia State last year.

Will all that said, here are a few key areas the Tigers should look to address to win their opening game of the 2022 season:

Two Tigers make ESPN’s four college superteams

Derick Hall and Anders Carlson were both picked by ESPN writer Alex Scarborough.

With the start of college football and the NFL season in the coming weeks, ESPN decided to draft four college football superteams and two Auburn Tigers made the cut.

The draft is inspired by fantasy football and each team includes a quarterback, a running back, two wide receivers, a tight end, a flex spot, and a complete offensive line for the offense. The defense consists of four defensive linemen or edge rushers, three linebackers, four defensive backs, a kicker, and a returner.

ESPN writers Andrea Adelson, David Hale, Adam Rittenberg, and Alex Scarborough each drafted their own team and Scarborough picked two Tigers.

[autotag]Derick Hall[/autotag], who they listed as a linebacker, was taken in the 15th round while kicker [autotag]Anders Carlson[/autotag] was selected in the 24th round.

Hall was recently voted as a team captain for Auburn and enters his senior season as one of the top pass rushers in the SEC. He made 7.0 sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss and has spoken about his goal to break Auburn’s sack record of 11.5 set by Nick Fairley in 2010.

Carlson is returning from a torn ACL in his plant leg that he suffered in mid-November last season. Prior to his injury, he made 14 of his 21 field goal attempts and 35 of his 36 extra-point attempts.

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Projecting Auburn’s defensive depth chart

Here is how Auburn’s defensive depth chart could look like.

We have made it, there will be college football on our TV’s this weekend.

While the games may not be great, football is football and it is time to get excited about Auburn’s Week 1 matchup with Mercer on Sept. 3 in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

With the season that close, an official depth chart should be announced very soon and that means it is time to try and predict how that depth chart will look. We predicted the offensive depth chart on Friday and now it is time to predict the defense.

This side of the ball faces far less uncertainty than the offense and has proven players in [autotag]Caleb Wooden[/autotag], [autotag]Derick Hall[/autotag], [autotag]Owen Pappoe[/autotag], and more.

Derick Hall is excited about moving from ‘student’ to ‘teacher’

Derick Hall has prepared to become a captain ever since he arrived on campus in 2019. His opportunity has come, and he plans to make the most of it.

Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin announced Tuesday the three players that will represent the team as captains for the 2022 season. One of those chosen players is defensive end [autotag]Derick Hall[/autotag].

After being named a captain, Hall took time to share with the media his thoughts on becoming a captain, a title that will forever cement him in Auburn Football history.

“Coming here to Auburn, I busted my butt for four years,” Hall said in a recent press conference. “I was blessed enough to play immediately. Just coming in, busting my butt, not taking anything for granted every single day, showing up and doing the work and it finally paid off.”

Hall has prepared to become a captain by exhibiting a captain’s personality, as well as being a student under past captains.

“There are plenty of guys. K.J. (Britt), Chandler Wooten, Marlon Davidson, Derrick Brown, just having those guys here. That was a big thing for me,” Hall said. “I came in early, so that was a big thing to get in the spring and just watch how they work, watch, how they went about their day, and the things they did to be successful and take that and run with it. So that’s what I did.”

By working hard, and by gaining knowledge from past captains, Hall always knew that he wanted to be a captain. Now that his name has been called, he is ready to be the best leader that he can be.

“We have a new season coming up so I come in every day trying to prove myself and just help this team take that next step,” Hall said. “My peers, coaches, and people in the facility chose me to be one of the team captains, so I’m honored.”

Joining Hall as a captain of the 2022 football season are linebacker [autotag]Owen Pappoe[/autotag] and tight end [autotag]John Samuel Shenker[/autotag].

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Eight Aubun Tigers named to 2023 Reese’s Senior Bowl watch list

Here are the eight Tigers that made the watch list for the 2023 Reese’s Senior Bowl.

The watch list for the 2023 Reese’s Senior Bowl was announced Wednesday and Auburn was well represented with eight Tigers making the cut.

Edge [autotag]Derick Hall[/autotag], tight end [autotag]John Samuel Shenker[/autotag], linebacker [autotag]Owen Pappoe[/autotag] wide receiver [autotag]Shedrick Jackson[/autotag], cornerback [autotag]D.J. James[/autotag], edge [autotag]Eku Leota[/autotag], cornerback [autotag]Nehemiah Pritchett[/autotag], and offensive tackle [autotag]Killian Zierer[/autotag].

The Senior Bowl is an annual all-star game and practice that is run by NFL personnel that is for seniors or graduating players.

Hall, Shenker, and Pappoe will be Auburn’s three permanent captains for the 2022 season and are expected to be leaders on and off the field for the Tigers.

Jackson is the most experienced wide receiver on the roster and is looking to build on a strong 2021 season where he caught 40 passes for 527 yards and one touchdown.

Pritchett is looking to become Auburn’s No. 1 cornerback now that Roger McCreary has moved onto the NFL while James is expected to be a key reserve in the secondary.

Leota is Auburn’s No. 2 edge rusher behind Hall and is looking to give the Tigers two fearsome rushers. Zierer has used a strong camp to lock down the starting left tackle spot.

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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.

Let us know your thoughts, and comment on this story below. Join the conversation today!

Five Auburn players make preseason Coaches All-SEC squad

The Tigers are well represented.

Few know their opponents better than SEC coaches, and the latest preseason Coaches All-SEC team saw quite a few of them give props to some Auburn Tigers football players.

Auburn saw five of its players make the All-SEC team in some capacity. Running back [autotag]Tank Bigsby[/autotag] and edge rusher [autotag]Derick Hall[/autotag] both made the first team, defensive tackle [autotag]Colby Wooden[/autotag] and punter [autotag]Oscar Chapman[/autotag] made the second team and longtime Tigers kicker [autotag]Anders Carlson[/autotag] finished out the group with a third team appearance.

Bigsby and Hall are no strangers to accolades — Bigsby has often been lauded as potentially one of the best running backs in the conference this year and Hall has landed on quite a few “way too early” mock drafts for the 2023 NFL Draft. Wooden is also expected to be a force to be reckoned with in the trenches, too, making Auburn’s defensive line one of its biggest strengths heading into the 2022 season.

On the special teams side, both Chapman and Carlson have been on the Plains for some time. Carlson comes into the year as a fifth-year senior while the Australian native Chapman enters his third year as a Tiger.

Coach [autotag]Bryan Harsin[/autotag] will hope that all these players live up to expectations as the beginning of the season against the Mercer Bears on Sept. 3 draws nearer and nearer.

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ESPN includes two Tigers in College Football’s top 100 players list

In a list based solely on individual talent, Auburn has two of College Football’s most impressive players.

Auburn football will have several impact players on the field this season at any given moment.

Out of all the returning players that Auburn has on their roster, the two most popular among Auburn fans are running back [autotag]Tank Bigsby[/autotag], and defensive end [autotag]Derick Hall[/autotag]. Both have unique talents that will carry their respective units to success in 2022.

ESPN has recently selected their picks for the top 100 College Football players, where they included Bigsby and Hall. In this list, ESPN ranked players 1-100 based on overall skill, not by what team each player competes for, NIL value, or conference affiliation.

The first Tiger mentioned is Bigsby, who checks in at No. 42.

Bigsby rushed for over 1,000 yards and ten touchdowns in 2021 and is looking to continue his legacy as one of Auburn’s best running backs of all time.

The list of great running backs at Auburn over the years seemingly goes on forever. Bigsby is looking to put together a third straight big season for the Tigers. He has speed and power and is coming off a 1,099-yard season as a sophomore. That’s after rushing for 834 yards as a true freshman (against an All-SEC schedule), the second most rushing yards for any FBS freshman in 2020.

Derick Hall takes the No. 90 slot on the list after receiving preseason all-SEC honors.

Hall recorded 54 tackles (33 solo) for Auburn as a junior in 2021. He started 13 games and had 12.5 tackles-for-loss and nine sacks, leading the Tigers in both categories. Hall was named All-SEC second team by the coaches.

Auburn football will hold another scrimmage on Friday afternoon in an effort to continue their preparations for the 2022 season. The Tigers kick off their season on Saturday, September 3 at 6 p.m. CT against Mercer.

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New SEC preview has Auburn ranked in middle of pack, three players to watch

Keep an eye out for Auburn’s October matchup against LSU.

The Tigers have been getting more press as their season opener draws closer, and so has the vaunted conference it belongs in.

The SEC has always held its reputation over the years, and 2022 should be no different for what many claim is the best conference in college football. ESPN’s new SEC preview released on Tuesday broke down storylines, players to watch and more for the SEC and, naturally, there’s much talk about the Auburn Tigers.

The article listed Auburn as 10th in the SEC in its conference power rankings, just ahead of Florida and right behind South Carolina. It also listed three Auburn players on its preseason All-SEC team — running back [autotag]Tank Bigsby[/autotag], defensive end [autotag]Derick Hall[/autotag] and kicker [autotag]Anders Carlson[/autotag].

The preview also listed Auburn as playing one of its games to watch. Here is what the article had to say about the Tigers’ Oct. 1 matchup against LSU at home:

For a while last winter, it looked like Bryan Harsin might not see a second season as Auburn’s coach after the school launched an internal inquiry into his relationships with players and coaches and left him twisting in the wind. But a resolute Harsin survived and feels like his team only grew stronger through that ordeal. Auburn plays its first five games at home, and the fourth of those is against LSU and first-year coach Kelly. The winner of this one could potentially stake its claim as the surprise of the league this season.

Unfortunately, the championship game prediction from the preview foresees more of the same in the SEC, as it has Alabama defeating Georgia.

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Tigers defensive line praised in new list

This Auburn defensive line could give teams nightmares in 2022.

Teams may have some trouble with Auburn in the trenches when the season begins this September.

A new list from On3 laid out their top-12 defensive lines in the NCAA before the start of the season, and Tigers fans may be pleased to hear that Auburn made the list at No. 10. Here is what writer Mike Huguenin had to say about the Tigers’ defensive line:

The Tigers lost a lot of depth pieces along the line, but the starting group is quite good and, barring injury, there still should be enough depth. Hall is a big-time pass rusher. Wooden is the group’s star. Jones, an Oregon transfer who is an Alabama native, is a big body (6-6, 330) in the middle.

Both [autotag]Derick Hall[/autotag] and [autotag]Colby Wooden[/autotag] have gotten quite the press over the offseason, and the duo will look to back up the praise and perhaps improve their NFL draft stock when the Tigers hit the gridiron to start the year. Oregon transfer [autotag]Jayson Jones[/autotag] should not be overlooked either, however, and the Alabama product is likely to show out for his home state with the firepower on either side of him in 2022.

Auburn will play its first game on Sept. 3 when it squares off against the Mercer Bears at home.

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Pritchett, Simpson are ‘next level’ according to Zac Ethridge

Secondary coach Zac Etheridge is pleased with the work ethic and leadership that Nehemiah Pritchett and Jaylin Simpson are showing during fall camp.

Auburn corner backs [autotag]Nehemiah Pritchett[/autotag] and [autotag]Jaylin Simpson[/autotag] matched each other step for step last season. Each made 27 total stops, and both recorded an interception each.

This season, they plan on taking their performance a step further, and are working hard in preseason camp to do so says secondary coach [autotag]Zac Etheridge[/autotag].

During his meeting with the media Thursday, Etheridge took time to speak about Pritchett and Simpson’s work ethic as the Tigers continue to prepare for the 2022 season.

“I think Nehemiah (Pritchett) and Jaylen (Simpson) have taken their game to a new level. I have been really impressed with their work ethic, the way they attack practice every day. They set the bar high in terms of what it is supposed to look like,” Etheridge said. “You count on leaders that have played a lot of ball like those guys to bring these young guys behind them. They are setting the example. Every day they come out and put the work in. They get to the ball; they communicate and make plays.”

Etheridge also added praise for safety [autotag]Zion Puckett[/autotag]. Puckett recorded 48 tackles last season, which is third-best among returning players. Etheridge says that Puckett will be one of Auburn’s leaders on defense this season.

“(Puckett is) a silent assassin, but he’s probably the smartest guy in the room in terms of football IQ. Guys trust him,” Etheridge said. “He’s going to get them lined up in the right spot. I trust him making the right checks and communication. He’s been working his tail off from a physical standpoint.”

Pritchett, Simpson, and Puckett join a solid list of returning players on defense. Joining those three are EDGE [autotag]Derick Hall[/autotag], DE [autotag]Colby Wooden[/autotag], and LB [autotag]Owen Pappoe[/autotag].

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