AUBURN — Some guys have it, some guys don’t.
It seems Auburn football freshman Jamonta Waller does.
“Talent-wise, this is one of the best young kids I’ve seen pass rushing,” veteran buck linebacker Jalen McLeod said of Waller on March 12. “He’s got a knack for pass rushing. He might be a little raw right now because he’s just coming out of high school. But the stuff he do, with no training or stuff like that, it’s just like, ‘He just did a spin like Dwight Freeney.’ It’s those things. Like, he’s so talented.”
Position coach Josh Aldridge added March 13: “Jamonta is an elite pass rusher. He’s probably the most ready from of the young guys from a pass-rush standpoint. Maybe not necessarily the run just from the strength and things like that. But being able to line up and go rush, he can go do it.”
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The Tigers inked the nation’s No. 10 recruiting haul in the Class of 2024, per the 247Sports Composite. It’s a collection of talent headlined by a receiver tandem of Cam Coleman and Perry Thompson, both of whom will likely see plenty of opportunity as freshmen.
But Waller, along with fellow pass rushers Amaris Willians and Joe Phillips, were key pieces of the class, too. Williams is the 34th best prospect to sign with the Tigers in the modern recruiting era with a composite rating of 9706. Waller (.9532) sits at No. 69 and Phillips (.9405), who has versatility as an off-ball linebacker but went through spring practice focusing on getting after the quarterback, is slotted at No. 90.
“They’re just really hungry,” Aldridge said of his freshmen. “I think, sometimes, when freshmen come in, it goes one way or the other: Where maybe they’re a little too cool for school and they just kind of feel their way through it, or they come in guns blazing, not worried about screwing up and things like that. I think they’re doing more of the latter.
“Their attention to detail is good. At the same time, I’ve emphasized to them since I got here, ‘Hey, don’t worry about making a mistake. Go out there, play fast (and) we’ll fix the mistakes.’ For the most part, that’s what they’re trying to do.”
Auburn will have the luxury of not having to rely on its freshmen at buck linebacker, which is what the current defensive staff calls the pass rusher coming off the edge. It’s a similar position to that of jack linebacker, which is what the previous defensive staff called it.
McLeod, after transferring in from Appalachian State last offseason, hit the ground running in his first SEC season, tallying 48 tackles and 5.5 sacks. The Tigers dipped into the Sun Belt again this offseason, pulling in Arkansas State transfer Keyron Crawford in April. It’s not a completely fair comparison given the difference in competition, but Crawford had more pressures in 2023 (39) than McLeod (38).
The duo of McLeod and Crawford is set to see the majority of snaps in 2024, but there will be chances for at least one of the freshmen to step up. That’s a tough ask in Year 1, but graduating high school early and getting to campus for spring practice put each of Williams, Waller and Phillips at an advantage.
“I think sometimes we get really excited about talking about these freshmen,” Aldridge said. “They should be sitting in their Algebra 2 class in high school right now, they enrolled early.”
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.