Auburn football: Nehemiah Pritchett, DJ James settling in as teammates in NFL

Former Auburn football cornerbacks Nehemiah Pritchett and DJ James were both drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the 2024 NFL Draft

Former Auburn football cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett was the first Tiger to be selected in this year's NFL Draft. The Seattle Seahawks chose Pritchett as the #136 overall pick, meaning his professional career would begin over 2,500 miles from his hometown.

Then, in the next round, the Seahawks selected DJ James as the #192 overall pick, making it so two kids from south Alabama would be starting their journeys on the next level together, remaining teammates in the pros.

"I was super excited," Pritchett said when he found out James was drafted to the Seahawks. "Me and D.J. (James) have been friends for a really long time…We played in the all-star game together in high school. I tried to get him to come to Auburn, when he was coming out of high school, but he decided to go to Oregon. Me and him have been having a good time so far."

Though James began his collegiate career at Oregon, he spent the last two seasons on the Plains playing in tandem with Pritchett, and the pair were thrilled to continue helping each other improve, even looking like a matching set during rookie camp with Pritchett wearing #28 and James wearing #29.

“Just trying to make each other better,’’ Pritchett said, per the Seattle Times. “Me and him used to always pair and try to get the best out of each other.’’

Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said that the former Tigers are off to a strong start with few mental mistakes. Pritchett credited this to his time on the Plains.

"I think we had really good coaches at Auburn that got us prepared us to learn new defenses, and learn new techniques," Pritchett said. "Just having good coaches at Auburn got us prepared for this moment."