Thanks to the athletic-looking additions Hugh Freeze and his staff made in the offseason, Auburn football practices are looking different these days.

But if you really pay attention, Auburn football practices are sounding different, too.

And that’s thanks to those whose faces are shaded by visors and whose necks are adorned with whistles.

Auburn defensive line coach Vontrell King-Williams is consistently one of the loudest people at practice, sticking to the hips of his players as he tries to milk every ounce of effort out of his players with booming encouragement.

“I love Vontrell and his energy,” Auburn defensive lineman Jayson Jones said. “Everybody loves him in the D-line room. I love him. I wouldn’t want anybody else to coach me this year.”

Then there’s Auburn defensive coordinator DJ Durkin, who frequently looks like a pinball as he sprints around the practice field, hooting, hollering and gesturing to get his point across.

“Certainly somebody that brings energy and intensity every single day,” Auburn linebacker Eugene Asante said of Durkin.

Charles Kelly, Auburn’s co-defensive coordinator and safety coach is similar in that way, always active and intentional at practice. Proactive instead of reactive, if you will.

Meanwhile, on the offensive side of the football, it’s Auburn offensive coordinator and running backs coach Derrick Nix that helps bring the juice.

“Coach Nix, man, he’s awesome to be around,” said Auburn wide receiver coach Marcus Davis. “For a coach like me to have somebody like him as the leader — it’s good to see how he brings it every day. The players love it.”

Proving Davis’ point, Tigers’ tight end Brandon Frazier recently told reporters, “You don’t have to worry about (Nix) not having a good day. He’s always bringing other people up.”

Together, Durkin, Kelly and Nix have all helped pump juice into the Auburn football program — something Freeze said the Tigers desperately needed heading into Year 2.

“It was absolutely necessary for me to do that, for my sanity and my health,” Freeze said when adding a trio of energetic coordinators. “I had to have some help with that.”

Last year, Auburn’s offense was led by former offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery, while the Tigers’ defense was headed by former defensive coordinator Ron Roberts.

And even if their messages were identical to the messages of Nix, Durkin and Kelly, their delivery was certainly nowhere near the same.

Unlike what we’ve heard from players about playing for Auburn’s new trio of coordinators, little was ever said about playing for Montgomery and Roberts, with the latter being someone who had trouble landing dad jokes, according to former Auburn defensive back Jaylin Simpson.

None of that’s said to assume Auburn’s players didn’t enjoy playing for last year’s coordinators — heck, Asante posted a passionate statement on how much he enjoyed playing for Roberts shortly after his exit to Florida.

It’s just that playing for balls of energy like Nix, Durkin and Kelly is different — and different for the better, it seems.

“I think it’s going to become contagious,” Freeze said. “The kids see it. I think it breeds over some confidence to them.”

Ask Marcus Davis, however, and he’d tell you it’s already caught on.

“It’s super contagious. Every time anybody’s got good energy, it’s super contagious,” Davis said.

“That’s what we preach to the players as well. Just always have a positive outlook. Whenever a receiver makes a play, all of a sudden you see two or three more receivers make plays. Now, a running back makes a big play. Positive energy in any atmosphere is contagious.”