Auburn football: BGB lists Rodney Garner as #2 DL coach, Nick Eason #11

While the Auburn football program brought in a ton of coaching talent from all over the SEC, they also lost key names to fellow SEC schools as well this past offseason.

While Bryan Harsin brought over Derek Mason (Vanderbilt), Will Friend (Tennessee), and Mike Bobo (South Carolina), coaches from Gus Malzahn’s staff also made their way to other programs within the conference as well.

Rodney Garner, who served as the DL coach for seven seasons on the Plains, landed on Rocky Top with the Volunteers. The work he put into making Auburn football a hotspot for the top DL recruits in the nation should translate to his time in Knoxville.

At least that’s what noted CFB list-maker Big Game Boomer thinks. BGB listed former DL coach Rodney Garner at #2 (behind only Ohio State’s Larry Johnson) on his list of the top DL coaches in the nation, while he ranked current DL coach Nick Eason at #11:

It’s hard to argue with Garner’s ranking despite the lack of guaranteed success his team will have in the upcoming 2021 season. Tennessee is a popular pick to dwell in the SEC East basement with fellow Volunteer State struggling pigskin program Vanderbilt.

That said, Garner’s track record in molding NFL prospects is strong, as one Twitter user pointed out:

As for Eason, he comes in at #11 despite never holding the position at the collegiate level. That said, his seven years as a DL coach in the NFL–coupled with the talent already in place–likely explain away his ranking.

Overall, he was the fourth-highest ranked DL coach in the SEC, who also were represented by David Turner (Florida, #4) and Elijah Robinson (Texas A&M, #10) in the top 10.