Everyone was disappointed to see Jeremy Garrett, the former defensive line coach at Auburn, depart the Plains to take a similar position with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Regarding Garrett’s transfer to the major leagues, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze remarked, “Hated to lose J.G., honestly.”
Few, though, felt the loss as deeply as Vontrell King-Williams, who worked under Garrett as a defensive analyst the previous season and is close friends with the Jaguars’ new defensive line coach.
“I know a lot of people were upset and sad when he left, but when I dapped him up when he left the building for the last time, I actually shed a few tears,” King-Williams admitted. “That was my partner.” He had a major role in my decision to come here. I had high expectations for him.
King-Williams was lucky to have gained the opportunity to interview for the open position as a result of Garrett’s departure.
The rumour that King-Williams might take over for Garrett first arose on February 7, a mere five days after the news of his departure broke. Auburn officially announced King-Williams’ elevation on February 9th, designating him as the program’s defensive tackles coach and providing the former analyst with his first on-field coaching role.
King-Williams remarked, “To be honest, it don’t feel much different,” adding that he had either coached or recruited the majority of the players on Auburn’s defensive line. Undoubtedly, the primary distinction is that now everything is up to you.
Analyst Brett Kulka, according to King-Williams, is his right-hand man and assists him with the defensive line.
He is correct, though, in that he is on the interior defensive line. Furthermore, Freeze acknowledged having some reservations about it.
Regarding the defensive line, Freeze stated on February 29 that “I think the biggest question mark we have right now is the interior.” “We lost two of our most productive guys, as well as some guys who played significant snaps for us.”
The Tigers will need to replace the output of Justin Rogers and Marcus Harris, who both chose to enter the 2024 NFL Draft, as well as Lawrence Johnson, whose eligibility expired at the end of the 2023 season, heading into spring training.
And King-Williams, an assistant coach in his first year, will have to resolve the situation while implementing a new defensive plan under DJ Durkin, Auburn’s new defensive coordinator.
Thankfully, “simple” is one of the most often used adjectives to characterize Durkin’s scheme, which will come in useful while managing a group of interior defensive linemen that includes two players who were reserves the previous season, two transfers, and a considerable number of young players.
King-Williams stated, “They can write plays now because it’s so easy and gives them freedom to play.” “That’s a crucial component, particularly for those who arrive early and encourage younger players to play right away. It’s challenging for young men to enter the game and play Year 1 in a demanding system. That’s arguably one of our best assets, in my opinion.
According to King-Williams, Trill Carter, a transfer from Texas, and Gauge Keys, a transfer from Kansas, both senior transfers to Auburn, have adapted to the situation swiftly.
We definitely hit on those two transactions, according to King-Williams. Naturally, your sample size is small because it is early in the spring, but in the small sample size I have seen, those two have shown consistency every single day. Every single day, they have produced plays.
During Tuesday’s spring practice, Carter and Keys took up most of the first-team reps as returning seniors Jayson Jones and Zykeivous Walker alternated in to work with what looked to be Auburn’s assembled starting defence.
King-Williams also expects Jones to be a mainstay in Auburn’s defensive line’s interior, even though Walker is a player who he claims will play both defensive end and defensive tackle.
The most important thing about Jones, according to King-Williams, is that he is the person in her room with the most SEC experience and snaps. “He’s a guy who, when he plays with violence consistently and goes hard all the time, can change the game.” A game that he can change. It is visible to us. On that, we’re still working. It’s still an ongoing project. But Jayson gives me hope.
Guys like junior Quientrail Jamison-Travis, who has struggled with injuries, and redshirt freshman DJ Reed, who King-Williams said has “completely turned his life around” and is doing better in the classroom after some “tough off-the-field issues,” round out the Tigers’ returners along the interior defensive line.
Then there are the two 4-star recruits who enrolled early, Malik Blocton and TJ Lindsey, who are freshmen.
Blocton has a lot of expectations because Marcus Harris, his younger brother, submitted an all-SEC campaign last autumn.
The good news is that he has lived up to the hype thus far.
Regarding Blocton, King-Williams remarked, “This is the exciting thing about Malik: He’s a young Marcus.” Malik’s length is one of his greatest qualities. He possesses a little edge in athleticism over Marcus. Thus, some of those items are visible to you.
As Lindsey learns the defensive tackle and defensive end positions, he has spent time with defensive edge coaches Josh Aldridge and King-Williams.
It will be a fantastic deal. Since he has the NFL defensive lineman body type, as I informed him,. Regarding Lindsey, King-Williams remarked, “He can also change a game with his quickness and athleticism.” “So, it’s just a matter of helping him comprehend that learning both is beneficial for him.”
In case it isn’t evident, King-Williams is managing a lot of moving parts, including a new position, new employees, a new system, and new faces.
Luckily, he had a decent tutor the previous season.
King-Williams spoke of his time spent working with Garrett: “I’m going to be doing the same things, everything I learned from JG.” The fact that J.G. and I worked together was fantastic. We would employ concepts that I might have known better or that he might have believed would be a good idea for me. Last year, we actually put everything together.
