How strong could Auburn's pass rush be? "Oh my goodness."
Speed, experience, depth, talent — the Tigers are loading up and have the potential to be their best at getting to the quarterback in a while.
AUBURN — Last Thursday, new Auburn edge rusher Chris Murray repeated the same three words four times in less than 30 seconds.
“Oh my goodness.”
The excitement was radiating off of the transfer from Wichita Falls, Texas. Murray spent the first three playing seasons of his college career at Sam Houston, a recent FCS-to-FBS jump establishing itself in a constantly changing, geographically bewildering Conference USA. The Bearkats’ stadium seats just 14,000 fans.
Now Murray was just a few minutes removed from making plays with his new teammates in Auburn’s state-of-the-art football facility. He had teamed up with blue-chip freshman linebacker Bryce Deas to sack former 5-star quarterback Deuce Knight to end practice. Auburn’s entire defense rushed the field to celebrate.
Murray had made the most out of his third and final season at Sam Houston, earning first-team All-Conference USA honors with 11.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks. For his final year of eligibility, he hopped into the transfer portal and picked Auburn over Florida State and several other power-conference schools.
“Family-oriented,” Murray said when asked why he ultimately chose Auburn. “And honestly, you know, people say that everywhere. People say family this, family that. But this is truly your family. … I built a strong connection with everybody.”
Instead of being the clear-cut leading pass rusher at Sam Houston for one more season, Murray joined up with the most talented roster Auburn has had in years.
Among the edges alone, the Tigers boast a potential first-round NFL Draft pick (Keldric Faulk), a Group of Five transfer with SEC experience (Keyron Crawford), a former top-30 recruit (Amaris Williams), a former top-70 recruit (Jared Smith) and three more former top-140 recruits (Jamonta Waller, Joe Phillips and JJ Faulk).
That gets Murray even more excited.
“We have nothing but great guys off the edge and even inside,” Murray said. “Pass rush is going to be amazing this year.”
Auburn hopes all that optimism is well-founded — because it could be the thing that could take a second-year defense under DJ Durkin to the next level this season.