There’s no question about how young Auburn’s linebacker group is heading into the 2025 season.

After losing four senior linebackers in the offseason, Auburn coach Hugh Freeze wanted to add more depth to help with the development of the freshman and sophomores.

Auburn signed linebacker Caleb Wheatland back in April, after spending three seasons at Maryland. During his time with the Terrapins, Wheatland finished with 100 total tackles and seven and a half sacks.

“We like the linebackers we had, but we felt like the youth needed some experience,” Freeze said during Wednesday’s press conference.

“You go get a guy that has started a bunch of games in Power 4 football and is a really good kid and a good player. We felt like we needed somebody to add to that youth in that room,” Freeze added. “Robert [Woodyard] is still young. [Elijah Melendez] is still young. I think they’re going to be two really good Mike linebackers, but can we get one that has some experience? That’s what we got in Caleb.”

While Keyron Crawford and Demarcus Riddick are favored to start at outside linebacker, the interior linebacker position is currently a three-man race between Wheatland, Woodyard and LSU transfer Xavier Atkins.

Freshmen Melendez and Bryce Deas also saw significant playing time with Auburn’s second and third teams during the spring.

Auburn will practice at 3:30 this afternoon in front of the media for the first time. AL.com will continue to follow this position battle.

Jerry Humphrey III covers Auburn sports forAL.com. You can follow him on X at @Jerryhump3or email him at [email protected].