Why Eugene Asante and Griffin Speaks are two names Auburn fans need to know
One is a returner getting a fresh start under a new staff. The other is a newcomer who got a head start because of that same staff.
LB Eugene Asante (Austin Perryman/Auburn Athletics)
Eugene Asante remembers a meeting earlier this preseason, where he got up in front of his teammates and said he wanted to learn more about them.
One of the teammates he singled out would have taken a lot of folks by surprise: Griffin Speaks, a walk-on graduate transfer safety who played at Auburn High School.
“He was a little bit more quiet when he came in,” Asante said Monday.
Asante could relate. Last year, Asante transferred to Auburn after several seasons at North Carolina. He said he didn’t talk much and was just trying to get adjusted to his new school.
The Virginia native was expected to make an impact at linebacker in 2022. Instead, Asante only played five defensive snaps in the season opener against Mercer before being limited to special teams work over the next three weeks. He never saw the field in October or November.
“Last year, I was very upset with myself in terms of… I just didn’t get on the field,” Asante said. “I really don’t know why that was. I made a vow to myself and a vow to my family that I’m going to establish myself and work the hardest I’ve ever worked, and I can’t be denied.”
A year later, with a new coaching staff and a new defensive scheme in place, it’s hard to miss the formerly quiet transfer linebacker.
Asante is a constant vocal presence throughout the Auburn football building, whether it’s on the practice field or in the meeting room. His trademark catchphrase, a bellowing “LET’S WORK!” has spawned several imitators on the Tigers’ roster.
“Now, every time I'm walking in the building, somebody's like, 'Let's work!'“ Asante said with a laugh. “And then they're, like, 'Eugene, how does it sound? Am I getting it? Am I close to sounding like you?' So I'm like, 'Yeah, you're getting there.'“
Asante might have entered 2023 as an afterthought to most people on the outside of the Auburn football program. The Tigers returned several inside linebackers with more experience on the roster while adding Austin Keys and Larry Nixon III from the portal.
But now, with just a few days away from the start of the season, Asante is set to be a key part of the Tigers’ rotation at linebacker.
Asante was listed on Auburn’s depth chart — something that head coach Hugh Freeze greatly downplayed Monday, but it’s still worth noting — as a second-team weakside linebacker behind Cam Riley.
“From what he’s been putting on tape… it looks like he’s played a whole season (last year),” Riley said of Asante. “He looks very good out there. He has a high motor, and it’s kind of hard to stop him.”
While Asante would have been a good candidate for most surprising member of the Week 1 defensive depth chart heading into the offseason, Speaks ran away with that title on game week.
Speaks is currently listed a second-team free safety behind veteran Jaylin Simpson. And that’s not a typo or a fluke: The 5-foot-11, 188-pound local product had been repping with the second-team defense throughout fall camp and was turning heads for his work on special teams.
“In terms of being a field general at the safety position, he does it to a T,” Asante said of Speaks. “He knows the defense and absolutely commands the defense when he's out there. It's a totally different thing when Griffin is out there.”
One is a returner getting a fresh start under a new staff. The other is a newcomer who got a head start because of that same staff.
And they’re both in line to make an impact on Auburn’s new-look defense this fall.