When Auburn defensive backs were asked who has improved most since last season, one name kept popping up.

JC Hart.

Hart, a redshirt freshman corner from Loachapoka, Alabama, only played in four games last season, but multiple players are high on him going into 2024.

“JC Hart, that’s my dog,” Auburn corner Kayin Lee said when asked who has improved most since spring. “He’s been working every single day. You can tell he in the film room and on the field. He’s working.”

“I just got chills when you said that,” Auburn defensive back Champ Anthony said when asked about Hart. “He has all the intangibles and now he’s just really understanding the mental part and how to use his body and length and it’s just amazing. He’s going to have a breakout season this year.”

Anthony also said that Hart is the fastest player on the team, a claim that safety Griffin Speaks also made when speaking to reporters during the first week of fall camp.

“JC is one of the most talented and one of the most gifted athletes I’ve ever witnessed,” Speaks said. “He’s, no doubt, the fastest one on the team.”

Hart is one of many young defensive backs that is expected to see the field more this season, despite not playing much in 2023.

With the players Auburn last from last season’s secondary, Hart and the other young defensive backs were part of the group Hugh Freeze called one of the keys to the season.

“Then you’ve got JC Hart and Antonio Kite and (Jay) Crawford and these are young kids that haven’t played very much football, and they’re gonna have to play,” Freeze said before Auburn’s first practice of fall camp.

Of those three players, Hart is the only one who was at Auburn last season.