Auburn's safety room is deeper, older and — now — healthier
The Tigers have seven safeties who have combined for more than 4,600 career snaps, and they have shaken off some early injury concerns.
AUBURN — There were plenty of reasons to be excited about the state of Auburn’s safety room heading into fall camp this time last week.
The only problem is that no other position group had suffered as many recent bumps and bruises as that one.
Kaleb Harris didn’t participate in practice last Saturday. Sylvester Smith-Reed has stayed in an orange non-contact jersey. Newboy Fegans entered camp day-to-day and has been limited in what he can do on the field.
That’s a lot, even before you consider that Champ Anthony missed the spring while recovering from yet another injury setback and is just now getting back to full speed.
But none of those injuries are expected to last longterm. In fact, when Auburn hits the field Wednesday morning for their seventh practice — and their first one in full pads — the safety room is expected to be close to full strength.
Harris said after practice Tuesday that he’s “feeling good.” Fegans said he’ll be good to go as well. And Smith-Reed said his non-contact status is just precautionary.
“I won’t be doing a lot of hitting in camp anyway,” Smith-Reed said Tuesday. “That's something I appreciate a lot from this staff. How much can I really get from hitting at practice? I can hit. Everybody knows that. It’s just staying healthy and getting to the season.”
That’s some good news for the Tigers, who will be counting on these safeties to lead from the back of a reloaded defense in the third season under coordinator DJ Durkin.
And that safety group is now led by former Tennessee defensive coordinator Tim Banks, who previously worked with Alex Golesh and others in Knoxville. The veteran on staff, he was an assistant coach at Bowling Green when Durkin was still a player.
“It's ball, right?” Banks said after practice Tuesday. “That's what it is, particularly at the safety position. We've got to quarterback the defense and get guys lined up. I tell them all the time: It's up to us to get guys on the ground. No one notices when the D-line is rolling and the linebackers, but they notice when the safeties aren't.”
Experience and familiarity should not be an issue at all for these safeties. According to Pro Football Focus, the seven safeties on Auburn’s roster with FBS experience have combined for a grand total of 4,628 career snaps — more than 600 per player.
And that count includes Eric Winters and Fegans, who were true freshmen last season. It also includes Anthony, who is just a little over 400 career snaps at this level after being limited by injuries in each of his last two seasons on the Plains.
“Yeah, we're playing in the SEC, man,” Anthony said Tuesday. “It's a long season, especially when you go to the playoffs. You've gotta have guys. You've gotta have sharp guys — not just guys who can just fill in, but some guys who can really step up and really start. You know what I'm saying?
“You never really know who's gonna be the starter that week, because it depends on how that practice goes.”