A full overhaul of Auburn’s defensive front continued Monday with the signing of Keyron Crawford, Auburn’s third addition on the defensive line out of the transfer portal in 24 hours.
Crawford has two remaining years of eligibility coming to Auburn from Arkansas State.
Crawford joins interior defensive lineman Philip Blidi from Indiana and Isaiah Raikes from USC out of the transfer portal since Sunday afternoon. Head coach Hugh Freeze emphasized adding more talent out of the portal up front of defense and he has delivered on that promise.
Auburn allowed the fourth most rushing yards per game in the SEC last season and seventh in sacks.
That coupled with the loss of Marcus Harris to the NFL Draft made these additions important.
And there is new coaching. Auburn moved former linebackers coach Josh Aldridge to be in charge of the edge rushers while new defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin was assigned the linebackers. Former defensive line coach Jeremy Garrett left for the same time with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Auburn promoted Vontrell King-Williams to its new defensive tackles coach.
King-Williams is largely responsible for the addition of Raikes and Blidi.
Auburn has made several additions on the defensive front out of high school highlighted by Amaris Williams and Jamonta Waller. In the winter transfer window, Auburn brought in Gage Keys from Kansas and Trill Carter from Texas as interior defensive linemen.
Yet Freeze wanted more. So he added Crawford and Raikes and Blidi.
Crawford is unlikely to start. Auburn has its two exterior defensive linemen set in buck linebacker Jalen McLeod and rising star defensive end Keldric Faulk.
Crawford started all 13 games for Arkansas State last season and had 6.5 sacks along with 11.5 tackles for loss. He had 45 total tackles along with two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
He is initially from Memphis where he played at Briarcrest High School — the same high school Hugh Freeze coached at in various roles from 1992-2004 before moving to coach in college.
Freeze’s first Division I head coaching job was at Arkansas State in 2011.
There are enough new pieces in the defensive line and pass rusher groups for Auburn to expect to see significant improvement there — given that it gambled properly in the portal.
Auburn does not appear finished in the portal for the spring window, still recruiting on both sides of the ball.
The roster will have more than 30 new faces next season between high school recruiting and the transfer portal. Crawford is the 12th Auburn transfer added this offseason.
