With only a few precious weeks to get his defense ready for Louisville, defensive coordinator Will Muschamp is slightly frustrated with the way his guys have performed in the first half of fall camp.
“The inconsistency is what bothers me a little bit right now,” Muschamp said. “You get in this portion of camp and everybody’s still a little tired and a little sore and they’ve got to push through it. That’s where your leadership’s got to show up. We’re just not consistently doing that well enough at this time.”
His defense, which had held Gus Malzahn’s offense out of the end zone during the first scrimmage, was torched by a few big plays during the second scrimmage. Despite the struggles, Muschamp was encouraged by the way his guys responded.
“The offense made some nice plays, but we responded the right way as the scrimmage went on,” Muschamp said. “We take two steps forward and one step back. We’ve got to continue to press forward every single day.”
More than anything, Muschamp stressed the lack of communication as the primary reason for the lack of progress on the defensive side. The linebackers, whom everyone would assume to be a strong point with seniors Kris Frost and Cassanova McKinzy back in the middle, stood out specifically to Muschamp as the group whose starters are yet to be decided.
“I don’t know who would start day one right now to be honest with you,” Muschamp said. “Justin Garrett’s doing a good job. Tre’ Williams has done some nice things. Kris Frost is doing OK. We’ll see what happens. We’re going to play the best guys and the most productive guys and the guys that consistently do it right all the time and do it very, very hard all the time.”
On the other hand, the secondary – which has been paper-thin all summer – got a godsend in Michigan transfer Blake Countess.
“[His transfer] is huge,” Muschamp said. “This is a guy that started 30 games at Michigan and can play corner, can play nickel, can play safety. We’re repping him at a lot of different spots, and the big thing is that he’s extremely bright.”
But even with Countess, the secondary still doesn’t have an abundance of depth. However, a few of the freshmen such as Carlton Davis and Jeremiah Dinson have the talent and caliber to see the field on a consistent basis—high praise from one of the most respected defensive minds in college football.
“[Those] are guys I’d put in the game and not even blink,” Muschamp said.
Despite the obstacles surrounding Muschamp’s first season in his return to Auburn, he still believes his defense will be able to overcome difficulties and get better.
“We get a little tired, get a little fatigued and that makes cowards of us all,” Muschamp said. “We need to continue to battle through that—and we will.”
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