Auburn Football: Defensive Depth Chart Projections – Nose Guard
Dec 7, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; General view of Auburn Tigers and Missouri Tigers fans during the second quarter of the 2013 SEC Championship game at Georgia Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Liles-USA TODAY Sports
Maurice Swain
The Auburn football team has had great success with immediate impact junior college players in recent seasons.
Just to name a few, Nick Marshall started at quarterback in each of the past two seasons, D’haquille Williams and DaVonte Lambert played major roles on offense and defense last season, respectively. Also, Cam Newton won the Heisman Trophy and Nick Fairley won the Lombardi Trophy in the 2010 National Championship season.
Will Maurice Swain be the next great junior college player?
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Swain was considered a top-50 JUCO prospect in the 247Sports Composite, and a three-star at defensive tackle. At 6-foot-4, and 295 pounds, Swain has the size to play nose guard in Muschamp’s defense, but he was athletic enough to play end as well at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.
Last season, Swain tallied 32 tackles and 6.5 tackles for a loss to earn MACJC All-State honors.
Like fellow JUCO signees Jovon Robinson and Jason Smith and early enrollee freshmen Tyler Carr, Bailey Sharp, Chandler Cox and Tyler Queen, Maurice Swain has arrived on campus and will begin classes Wednesday.
“I feel very good about them as a group,” Malzahn said after the early enrollees were announced. “All of the guys that are coming in, we feel like it will be to their benefit that they are coming in early. Most of them will have a chance to have an impact next year. It’s really good for us to get those guys here.”
With a semester of school under his belt, and the spring practice that comes with it, Swain will have a head start on any other incoming freshmen that will challenge him for playing time in 2015.
“Swain is a guy we’ve known about for a long time,” Malzahn said. “Coach (Rodney) Garner recruited him at Georgia. I talked to him before he went to junior college. He’s a big, athletic guy we feel can come in and make an immediate impact up front because we are losing so many guys. We’re tickled to death to have him.”
Next: Dontavius Russell