Heading into the 2025 season, the Auburn football defense is filled with young players who were either forged by fire last season or who are looking to make a strong first impression. Several of the Tigers' true freshman defensive linemen are turning heads in fall camp.
Veteran defensive lineman Zykeivous Walker called out the younger guys on the defense, noting that they come in each day willing to work hard and keep learning and wanting to compete with the older guys, which has inspired the upperclassmen.
While Malik Autry, Jourdin Crawford, Darrion Smith and Jared Smith are all putting up stellar performances in the fall, one lineman in particular is catching the attention of his teammates.
"Jourdin Crawford is going crazy," Walker said, per Auburn Undercover. "(He) is one of those guys. It's going to be hard to move him. He's got all of it. He's a strong meatball. You can't stop that."
"He (Crawford) watches a lot of ball," added Caleb Wheatland, a transfer linebacker from Maryland who arrived in the summer. "That's easy to tell. He really relies on his technique. To have that instinct and to be able to play like that at such a young age and use that experience he may have had in high school, it's really exciting to see how well he's able to adapt to D.J. Durkin's system and how he's able to play."
Auburn football opens the season on a Friday night, August 29, against the Baylor Bears in Waco, Texas.