SEC Football: Meet Brian VanGorder, Defensive Coordinator for the Auburn Tigers

Every Monday, The SEC Blog will feature an assistant coach in the SEC. This week, we take a look at new Auburn defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder.

Brian VanGorder is no stranger to the SEC. He achieved cult-hero status from his days running Georgia's defense and was largely viewed as the missing piece during the dark days of Georgia's defense under former defensive coordinator Willie Martinez. VanGorder has a new challenge in front of him: fixing an Auburn defense that was mediocre at best under former defensive coordinator Ted Roof.

Can VanGorder handle the responsibility? All signs point to "yes."

The foundation of Georgia's success in the early 2000s was VanGorder's stingy defense. In his final season at Georgia in 2004, Georgia's defense finished eighth in the nation in total defense and ninth in scoring defense. The previous season, VanGorder won the Broyles Award for the nation's top assistant. That year, his Bulldogs were fourth in the nation in total defense, third in scoring defense and sixth in passing defense.  During his time in Athens, 14 Bulldog defenders were selected in the NFL Draft.  Not too shabby.

His accolades in the SEC speak for themselves, but Auburn was really bad on defense under Roof. Next-level bad. The only thing that saved the Tigers defense in their national championship year of 2010 was a defensive line that went about eight-deep and veteran leadership from guys like linebacker Josh Bynes.

What does VanGorder have to do to turn things around? Job No. 1 will be to teach the Tigers to tackle.  It seems simple, but tacking was virtually non-existant for the Tigers under Roof. It was a key factor in Auburn's loss at Clemson and was an epidemic that spread throughout the defense all season long.

VanGorder also knows that size matters. Auburn played with the smallest linebacking corps in the SEC in 2011, but one of his top priorities this spring is to increase the size of the heart of the defense, according to Charles Goldberg of AL.com.

This is nothing short of a home run hire for the Auburn Tigers. VanGorder knows good defense and will have Auburn back to the defensive dominance it once enjoyed under former head coach Tommy Tuberville sooner rather than later.

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