In today's college football world, consistency is rare among rosters with the transfer portal and so many players coming and going.
For the Auburn defense, that is not the case. The Tigers will have several players on that side of the ball that were part of the 2025 team. A big reason for that is defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin. Head coach Alex Golesh made one of the best offseason decisions when he retained Durkin.
The Auburn defense was one of the best in the SEC last season. The efforts from that unit were a key reason why the Tigers were in every game they played in despite the struggles of the offense for most of the season. The game versus Georgia was the only defeat that was by more than a touchdown. With a majority of those players returning,
the Tigers should be a tough team to move the ball against.
“There is a good nucleus of guys back, as you mentioned. That's been big for us, especially at the positions where there's the most communication - linebacker and safety," Durkin said Monday.
A big part of that group returning is linebacker Xavier Atkins. He led the team with 84 tackles and nine sacks last season. Other key players returning at linebacker are Demarcus Riddick and Elijah Melendez. At safety, Auburn returns Eric Winters, Kaleb Harris, and Champ Anthony among others. Winters was impressive last season as a freshman, and Anthony is looking for an injury-free season.
"Those are the guys that everything goes through on the field in terms of checking and getting the formations right and getting the guys lined up. To have those guys returning, for the most part, and also experienced guys that have been out there for us before, I think it really helped our install as we went through both spring ball and training camp to really be ahead," added Durkin.
The 2026 Auburn Tigers defense should be a fun unit to watch this season.
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This article originally appeared on Auburn Wire: Having a great returning 'nucleus' is key to Auburn defense's success
