In the Auburn linebacker room, a lot of the spotlight throughout the fall camp period has fallen on Xavier Atkins and Elijah Melendez, a one-two punch that has been touted for their leadership and physicality since their performance last season.
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After a scrimmage on Wednesday in Jordan-Hare Stadium, Alex Golesh spoke to the media on where the rest of the linebacker room is, a place that he has ultimately been pleased with the development.
Golesh talked highly of sophomore Bryce Deas, who played in 11 of the team’s 12 games in the 2025 season. Deas recorded 12 total tackles, two tackles for loss and two pass break-ups during the campaign, but has since developed in his abilities.
The head coach said Deas has been playing all three spots in the position, proving himself all throughout camp.
“(Deas) is a young guy that, you talk about played some as a freshman, took a step this spring, he’s gotten his body right, super intelligent, physical,” Deas said. “His best days are, when I say ahead of here, hopefully in 18 days. He’s had a really, really, really good camp and we feel really good camp and we feel really good with him.”
Another guy who has come along is junior De’Marcus Riddick, who missed the last two games of last year with an injury and missed a lot of time after.
For him, it has been all about getting the reps under his belt, and with versatility, Golesh said it is a valuable trait.
“De’Marcus Riddick continues to get back,” Golesh said. “He’s taken a ton of reps. He’s another one that we’ve played at every spot and Durk, for him to have position flexibility is really, really big.”
Golesh continued to say that the practice that he has got in the position has helped him improve tremendously.
The injury was one that set him back a ways, but he has recovered well, especially with his intelligence of the game itself.
“De’Marcus is coming, like every day, you see him more and more comfortable when you miss as much time as he has,” “It’s just a matter of getting back in it. He’s such a phenomenal athlete and also highly intelligent.”
Hampton transfer Michael Matthews-Canty has also progressed each day in camp according to Golesh. Matthews-Canty started 18 of the 21 games he appeared in at Hampton, recording 112 tackles, six tackles for loss, four sacks, one pass breakup, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
Making the transition from the FCS to the FBS level is not always an easy one to carry out, but Golesh said the junior has made his mark.
“He had a really good spring, had just an okay first two blocks of camp and this week has been really, really good,” Golesh said. “He’s taken some reps with the twos, has taken some reps with the ones. Here’s a young man that was an FCS transfer that, honestly, we took for depth and he’s shown he can play.”
Freshmen Shadarius Toodle and Adam Balogoun-Ali have also shown splashes of potential, but are still needing to do a lot of learning according to Golesh.
The head coach said though that they do have some chances to be able to do some things on the field.
“Toodle, I think gives us a chance on special teams a little bit,” Golesh said. “Goon is still coming along and learning. It’s happening fast for him, but he’ll be a really good player here as well.”
The Tigers kick off their season against the Baylor Bears on Saturday, Sept. 5 at 2:30 p.m. CST on ABC.
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
