⚡ CFB Dashboard

When Auburn was preparing for the season opener against the Baylor Bears and the team was beginning to narrow down the playbook for a real game, sophomore tackle Jourdin Crawfordwas splitting time between his role on defense and giving the offense a look as a member of the scout team. Just a few weeks later he's coming off maybe the best game of his young career as the Parker High standout continues to progress and earn more and more playing time for the Tigers. "Well, you've got to go practice like that all the time and really these last couple of weeks, he's bought into that," Golesh said. "I wanted him to buy into it earlier, but again, everybody's different. Their progression is different. He's been challenged, and he's answered. Jourdin's good when you challenge him, and as I've learned and continued to learn, you have to challenge Jourdin daily." Despite playing limited snaps the first two weeks with more action against Florida and Vanderbilt, Crawford is third among interior defensive linemen with 12 tackles in the first 4 games. A player that has gained confidence because of his work in practices leading up to the games, the big sophomore has earned the right to see more action, Golesh said. "He just played his best game here this past weekend against Vanderbilt," Golesh said. "He's a young guy that played some as a freshman, got his feet wet. I think he has tried to figure out one, what are these guys really looking for from me? And Vontrell is really, really simple. Vontrell's not a hard guy to figure out in terms of what you play for him: consistency, effort, consistency, effort, consistency, effort. I think Jourdin has been trying to, one, get his body right. Two, figure out, man, if that's what it takes, I can do that.  "But now doing it consistently in practice to where Vontrell and really the whole defensive staff trusts him to go in play-in and play-out. He played, I think, somewhere in the mid 20s this last weekend. Maybe 24 snaps, 26 snaps -- somewhere in there. And the effort was consistent, the technique was consistent, and therefore, the production was consistent." The next step for Crawford is to be that player every day. There has never been a question of talent or his love for the game, but becoming a student of the game and doing the little things on and off the field is the next step. Golesh said that's the next step that could take Crawford to the next level. "As he grows and develops, he's gonna be smart, he's motivated, he's gonna challenge himself eventually," Golesh said. "That's the growth that he's made through this last month and a half, and he's got to continue to take steps because he's a highly talented football player. He's a really good teammate. He's everything you want. Now, Jourdin, do it every snap consistently over and over and over again.  "That's a little bit of his growth when you've got young guys in certain spots. He now sees what a high-level process looks like, the result you get from that. Alright now, Jourdin, rinse and repeat that. Can you rinse and repeat it? And then can you do it for 13, 14, 15 weeks over and over and over again? The hope is he can, and he's certainly getting challenged there."