Auburn Football 2010: Steady Improvement Along the Defensive Line

There are three weeks to go before fans get their first dose of fall passion. Two-a-Days have brought their annual dose of humility for all players. The heat has been intense, if not sweltering.

With other units stealing the stage so far, many are overlooking Coach Rocker and the carnivores on the defensive line. This would be a mistake for opposing offenses this year.

With so much well deserved praise being handed out for Corey Lemonier, and exceptional performances by Craig Sanders, Jeffrey Whitaker, and Kenneth Carter, this line has been mentioned constantly.

These are just the freshmen in a unit that has been credited with giving the Auburn offense as good as it took. They slugged it out in first scrimmage and the results were far from conclusive.

One thing that has been mentioned on many occasions, is the rapidly developing pressure on the quarterback. This is a trait that was missing at times in 2009. Coach Chizik has been quoted giving a shout out to Nick Fairley on more then one occasion.

Fierce has been mentioned as a descriptor of the intensity of Coach Rocker’s unit thus far. While there is little doubt that these players must turn up the heat even more in the coming weeks, there is little doubt that progress has been made along the defensive line.