This is an opinion column.

Demarcus Riddick gets it.

The Auburn freshman linebacker knows exactly what the Iron Bowl rivalry means and he’s not one to hide it.

This is, after all, among sports’ greatest rivalries. Not just college sports. All sports.

And, for too long, it’s been almost polite. Everyone has respect for everyone and nobody wanted to screw up, say something and have it stapled to the opposition’s bulletin board.

We’re in the age of helicopter media relations too often equipped with buckets of cold water to extinguish anything provocative said.

Not so Monday at Auburn.

And definitely not with Riddick.

After a few minutes of standard interview answers, the rookie from Clanton brought it like a chiseled Iron Bowl vet. He went on a Cam Newton-esque run through questions about Jalen Milroe, Ryan Williams and Alabama in general.

It was awesome because it was real.

He wasn’t worried about PR or what people would think. Riddick just spoke his mind and that’s how these rivalries should be.

Milroe?

“He’s fast but he’s not faster than me. He’s not getting out of that box this week,” Riddick said.

What about Williams, a fellow freshman?

“Ryan Williams is Ryan Williams. I mean, yeah, he’s electric, he’s all this and that. But in my eyes, he ain’t really nobody to me,” Riddick said. “Ryan Williams is himself, he ain’t no big-time player to me.”

Now we’re cooking.

And what about the Crimson Tide, riding high until a smackdown 24-3 loss at Oklahoma?

“Seeing the results after that game, it was kind of like this team is really beatable,” Riddick said. “I was just telling the team, ‘Y’all don’t really take this team as this or that. They’re really beatable. We’ve got something to fight for.’ “Going into this game I’m just going to be balls to the wall every time. Like I said, Bama is a big rival team.

“Every rival team I’ve never lost to and I will not lose to Bama while I’m here.”

Broadway Demarcus over here!

Just calling his shot on a team that’s a double-digit underdog, losers of four straight in the rivalry without a win in Tuscaloosa since Riddick got to kindergarten.

As he should, because that’s part of what makes games like this special.

It’s gamesmanship.

And it’s just fun.

Isn’t that the point of all this?

We’re in the age where even fans get dogged for slinging some mud. No rivalry barb on social media comes without a response claiming the opposition lives “rent free” in the other’s head.

Guess what, you both do.

And you should.

Because you’re football rivals in the heartland of sporting hatred.

Embrace it.

This is the rivalry of six-finger Tommy Tuberville, Crimson Cranes, a CamBack, Kick Six, a fourth-and-goal from the 31.

And Al from Dadeville.

This is a blood feud and Riddick is from the epicenter of it. His hometown of Clanton is nearly the geographic midpoint between the two schools — 60.2 miles from Tuscaloosa and 68.6 from Auburn.

RELATED: Bama’s Ryan Williams ‘ain’t no big-time player,’ Auburn LB says ahead of Iron Bowl

After decommitting from Georgia in the summer of 2023, the five-star prospect had Crimson Tide and Tiger hats on the table before pledging his allegiance to Auburn.

“Bama, I love the school,” Riddick said in an interview with AL.com after his commitment ceremony in July 2023. “I love the coaches there. I have a great relationship with the coaches but I didn’t feel like home there. I didn’t feel like that was going to be for me.”

And his embrace of Auburn only ramped up since arriving and becoming a starter on a team that’s struggled but found a groove late in his freshman season.

While Riddick said he didn’t grow up a feverish Iron Bowl fan, he’s since jumped all the way into the culture.

As he should.

As everyone involved should.

Because it’s supposed to be more fun than careful.

But the reality of our overly-careful media ecosystem remains. As Auburn does after player interviews, the athletics department uploaded video of Riddick’s chat Monday. Not long after, the original was taken down and replaced with a sanitized version that didn’t include the takedown of Williams or Alabama in general.

Casagrande: A bloody Saturday painted Alabama disaster, new life for Auburn

Such is life but not all footage of the true Iron Bowl talk could be zapped.

It lives on because it’s fun.

Real talk in a time of carefully scripted, bless-your-heart pettiness that rarely feels as authentic as the heat brought Monday by an Auburn freshman linebacker.

Because Riddick gets it.

And he isn’t afraid to say what’s really on his mind.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.