Auburn Football: Defensive Depth Chart Projections

Aug 30, 2014; Auburn, AL, USA; Auburn Tigers defensive back Johnathan Ford (23) walks onto the field prior to the game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Jordan Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Shanna Lockwood-USA TODAY Sports

In the final installment of our initial 2015 Auburn football defensive depth chart projections, we take a look at the safety position. If you missed anything so far, they can be accessed here:

As far as safety goes, new defensive coordinator Will Muschamp has a slightly different philosophy than former DC Ellis Johnson. Under Johnson, the Tigers flipped safeties based on the alignment of the football – moving one player to the field (or wide) side of the playing field and one to the boundary (short) side if the ball was on a hash mark instead of in the middle of the field.

Therefore, Jermaine Whitehead started the season at field safety, while Rudy Ford primarily played boundary safety.

With Muschamp now calling the defense, the Tigers will implement a free safety and a strong safety, though the two positions are more interchangeable in Muschamp’s defense than most units that make such a distinction.

While stopping the run is priority number one for Muschamp, and both safeties must be strong tacklers that can play close to the line of scrimmage, both must also be athletic enough to cover receivers one-on-one.

Perhaps more important to Muschamp than the physical abilities of his safeties however are the mental aspects of the position.

In a recent interview with Charles Goldberg of auburntigers.com, former Auburn football player and current NFL defensive back Jerraud Powers shared some of his experiences with Muschamp, who was the defensive coordinator for the Tigers in 2006-07 when Powers was on campus.

“He was my coordinator the two years he was there, and he just brought a toughness to us and a confidence to us. We thought when we got on the field that there was nobody better on the field better than us,” Powers said.

It’s that confidence that will play the biggest role in turning around a Tigers defense that was historically bad in 2014.

The Auburn football team has surrendered 31 points or more to seven consecutive FBS opponents for the first time in school history and the Tigers ranked 13^th in the SEC in pass defense last season by allowing 230.1 passing yards per game.

It’ll take time for the Tigers to become a great defense, but Powers thinks Muschamp will make an immediate impact.

“I think the defense will be night and day from what it was. I know everybody thinks he’s going to come in and be the savior and we’re going to jump to the No. 1 defense immediately. It’s going to take time, but I do think he’ll make an immediate impact. People will see a difference,” Powers said.

So, who should we expect to see on the Auburn defensive depth chart at safety heading into spring practice? Let’s take a look

Next: Tray Matthews