Auburn inside linebacker coach Josh Aldridge wants to create a linebacker unit that is cerebral enough to understand the roles of every player on the defense. He is attempting to have linebackers who can switch between the three linebacker positions in defensive coordinator Ron Roberts’ defense.

“My priority early was to move them around and see what they’re good at doing,” Aldridge said. “And now you can focus more on I have a pretty good feeling of which spot those guys need to play. So now you’re fine-tuning those skills, letting those guys compete at those specific spots and things like that. So I’ve been pleased with the stress we’ve put on them.”

Freeze is noticing the fruits of the labor from the linebacker room. He pointed out how Aldridge’s plans are working through spring practice.

“Defensively, with the linebackers. It’s brand new,” Freeze said. “All the verbiage is new. Your installations are new. There’s a lot on them; sometimes, it takes reps, which will lead into fall camp.”

Freeze further detailed players he’s seen catch on to what Roberts and Aldridge want from a linebacker unit.

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I think, truthfully, when I look at the linebacker room, I believe Eugene (Asante) and Austin (Keys) and Cam (Riley) and Robert (Woodyard) and Wesley (Steiner), and, hopefully, (DeMario) Tolan can come along as a young kid, too, and Powell (Gordon), all those guys. But I think Eugene, Austin, Cam, Robert, and Wesley are solid players.”

Aldridge started spring by moving various linebackers to different spots in the group. Some have been working as strongside linebackers, some in the middle taking on a “quarterback of the defense” role.

The positions have very different purposes, but Aldridge is hoping the cross-training can provide a situation where the Tigers can rotate linebackers. Ideally, he’d want to keep the athletes fresh by cycling through first and second-stringers.

“I’ve always had the philosophy if you’re playing as hard as you can, you can’t play every snap,” Aldridge said. “I’m trying to have, you know, about five to six guys that can plan on playing about the same number of snaps in a game. I want us to be relentless on defense, and keeping guys fresh is important.”

Nubyjas Wilborn covers Auburn for Alabama Media Group.