Josh Aldridge knew the situation he was stepping into with Auburn’s linebackers room when Hugh Freeze brought him over from Liberty in the weeks after the took over as head coach on the Plains.

Auburn was losing its most productive linebacker — four-year starter and leading tackler Owen Pappoe, who also played the most snaps among the group — and was only returning to players who saw significant action last season: Cam Riley and Wesley Steiner. Auburn’s linebacker room was in need of depth, and if it could add some experience as well, that was even better. So, Auburn hit the portal and emerged with a pair of SEC transfers in LSU’s DeMario Tolan and Ole Miss’ Austin Keys to bolster the room.

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While Tolan, a freshman who appeared in 12 games (mostly on special teams) for LSU last season, is still coming along in his first spring at Auburn, Keys has been a revelation for his new program.

“Austin Keys has been everything I thought he’d be,” Aldridge said this week. “He’s got to clean some detail stuff up. But I think we definitely did not miss on him by any means.”

Keys has been working alongside Riley for much of the spring as the first two linebackers in a rotation that Auburn hopes to get to five or six players by September. Steiner and redshirt freshman Robert Woodyard Jr. have typically been the second tandem in what has been a fluid depth chart over the last five-plus weeks of practices.

The 6-foot-2, 235-pound Keys has been focusing on the Mike position within Auburn’s defense, with Aldridge noting that the Taylorsville, Miss., native has the ideal build for that position. While he could see some time at the Will linebacker spot down the line, as Aldridge works to cross-train his guys at the two inside linebacker positions, the Tigers’ assistant wants Keys to focus solely on fully mastering what’s asked of him at Mike this spring.

“He’s got the SEC experience,” defensive coordinator Ron Roberts said. “He’s big. He’s physical. He runs exceptionally well. He’s intelligent. He’s very smart. He’s picked things up really fast.”

Keys has managed that responsibility well throughout the spring, which wraps up with Saturday’s A-Day game at Jordan-Hare Stadium, as he has brought a level of “consistency” to the room while adjusting to a new system and new program.

“He brings a great approach to just kind of accepting coaching as it comes,” Steiner said. “I think he does a great job of just taking coaching as we get it. That’s been something that we’ve been harping on in the room — just hearing the message, not the tone. Everyone knows coaching can get a little heated sometimes, but Austin’s done a good job of just taking coaching and just being consistent.”

It has been a veteran approach from Keys, just as Aldridge anticipated would be the case when he recruited him out of the portal this offseason.

A former three-star prospect in the 2020 class, Keys was a three-year contributor at Ole Miss, where he redshirted as a freshman while appearing in four games as a special teams contributor in his first season. In 2021, he saw his role increase, playing in six games and making his first career start before his season was cut short due to a knee injury. He returned last season and played in all 13 games for the Rebels while making six starts, totaling 39 tackles on the year before hitting the portal.

He was one of six transfer portal additions for Auburn on defense this offseason with prior Power 5 experience, joining Tolan, edge rusher Elijah McAllister (Vanderbilt) and a trio of defensive linemen: Justin Rogers (Kentucky), Mosiah Nasili-Kite (Maryland) and Lawrence Johnson (Purdue). As one of four transfers with SEC experience — which Aldridge put a premium on when exploring the portal — Keys has acquitted himself well with his new surroundings this spring.

“He’s not been too haughty, so it’s always good to have guys that are not trying to do anything too crazy but just do their job and earn the trust of the players around them,” Steiner said.

The biggest thing for Keys moving forward, Roberts said, is getting to a point where he’s more comfortable as a vocal presence in the middle of the defense. Roberts requires a lot of his inside linebackers, and while he understands it takes some time — between learning a new system and acclimating to a new environment, with new coaches, teammates and a new town — he hopes to see Keys come into his own in that regard this offseason.

That aside, spring practice has only affirmed what Aldridge believed back in February: Auburn hit a “home run” with the addition of Keys from the transfer portal.

“I can definitely say Austin Keys got a spot,” safety Zion Puckett said. “I feel like he’s going to be pretty good for us.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.