Youth Movement Continues

[Snaggletiger]

Nice article on our two newest corners getting more game reps.  copy to da pasta Dothan Eagle

AUBURN - Jonathan Jones saw Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace running down field, but he didn’t expect the play to come his way.

 It was third-and-long with plenty of open grass – and about half the Tigers defense – between Auburn’s freshman cornerback and Wallace.

 â€œI kind of hesitated a little bit, because I thought they had him wrapped up,” Jones said of the group of five defensive teammates.

 They didn’t. Wallace kept running, closing in on the first down marker 15 yards beyond where the play started.

 Jones stopped hesitating.

 â€œOnce I saw my chance, I took it,” he said.

 Jones, a rare positive for Auburn’s defense Saturday, was on the surprising end of a welcome-to-the-SEC moment. Nobody was making a highlight out of him. In the second quarter of his first start, Jones stopped Wallace cold 1 yard from a first down on third-and-16 with a blistering hit.

 Jones smiled as he remembered the play earlier this week.

 â€œIt felt good,” Jones said. “Any time you get to hit a quarterback, especially, it always feels good.”

 Jones won’t be asked to hit the quarterback much.

 His skills in pass coverage – and highlights on special teams – have led to more playing time on defense. It makes Jones similar to Auburn’s other starting cornerback against Ole Miss, fellow true freshman Joshua Holsey.

 Auburn’s defense is in the midst of a youth movement, which takes another step when freshmen linebackers Cassanova McKinzy and Kris Frost get increased snaps Saturday at Vanderbilt. The Tigers cornerbacks are well ahead of the curve.

 As talent freshmen at the same position, there was natural competition between Holsey and Jones from the moment they arrived on campus this offseason.

 

On kickoff coverage, they kept track of tackles. They counted reps, trying to crack the defensive depth chart first.

 Holsey won that battle, getting his first defensive snaps three games ago against LSU. Knowing Jones would get more playing time Saturday, Holsey said he shared his experience and offered some pointers.

  “He was pretty excited,” Holsey said. “I just had to tell him a couple of things to make sure when he went in that he was calm and that he was able to do as well as he did. He played pretty good.”

 Always, their competition has been friendly.

 Jones and Holsey are roommates, which gave them a chance to help each other adjust quicker to the SEC level.

 As they tried to learn defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder’s schemes in preseason camp, they stayed up late bouncing terminologies off each other until they were second nature.

  “It definitely helps,” Jones said. “We’ll hear each other talking about different concepts and different schemes from time to time, which routes we might have saw. It helps being around each other a lot, feedback on what we saw. It was good chemistry on and off the field.”

 Auburn coach Gene Chizik said both freshmen still have a lot to learn. So far, the process has gone quick.

 Jones is focused on this season. After cracking the depth chart, he said the necessity to prepare becomes more intense.

 It hasn’t stopped him from thinking about what it might be like in a couple years, once the freshmen have had a chance to grow into seniors.

 â€œHopefully we can both keep it up, keep our play up,” Jones said. “It can be something for the next three or four years, get improvement to the point where they don’t want to throw to either side.”

[Saniflush]

That was a damn good hit.  Shame that he had to make it.

[Snaggletiger]

That was a damn good hit.  Shame that he had to make it.

So much more to this post than meets the eye.