Power of positivity: Best-case scenarios for huge Auburn season in 2018
By Rob Maxwell
The defensive line
The Clemson defensive line gets all the accolades. It should. That group of Tigers should be fantastic this fall. But don’t sleep on the Tigers in orange and blue.
Derrick Brown, Dontavius Russell, Marlon Davidson and Nick Coe make up one of the best defensive fronts in the country. Thrown in T.D. Moultry and Big Kat Bryant at the Buck and this group could get downright nasty.
Brown was third on the team in tackles last season with 57 and second with 9.5 tackles for loss. Russell wasn’t far behind with 46 and 6.5. Davidson is back after sorting through a productive yet nagging injury plagued season.
You know what you’re getting with those three players.
It’s Coe, Moultry and Bryant that are the wild cards here and each of them could make Auburn football fans forget about Jeffrey Holland.
Must Read. All the Auburn preseason hype in one package. light
Best-case scenario: Brown turns into the second coming of Nick Fairley and Russell benefits by taking advantage of the double teams Brown draws. Davidson nears the 10-sack mark.
At 6-6, 270, Coe becomes an unstoppable force on the end and a nightmare for opposing quarterbacks. He exceeds 10 sacks. Moultry and Bryant build off solid freshman seasons and combine for more than 10 sacks. As a whole, Auburn exceeds its sack total from 2017 (35) by at least 10, which would put it at or near the top in the nation. The Tigers also fly past their 81.0 tackles for loss last season and hit the century mark.