Joel A. Erickson commentary on Auburn football: New defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder must build Tigers' identity from scratch

Every great defense leaves a mark, a little like the signature a master craftsman leaves on every piece of work he sells.

The great defenses leave that trademark on every opponent. No matter the scheme, no matter the offensive philosophy, no matter the game’s circumstances, a great defense always finds a way to impose its identity on a game.

Alabama’s trademark is built on brute force. LSU’s trademark comes from its blinding speed and a deep stable of defensive backs with a penchant for big plays. Under Todd Grantham, Georgia has staked its identity around aggression. South Carolina’s freakishly talented defensive line sets the tone.

And that might be Brian VanGorder’s toughest task in taking over Auburn’s defense.

He has to build the Tigers’ defensive identity from scratch.

For the most part, Auburn’s defensive performance fluctuated wildly from game to game in 2012.

Against Florida, the Tigers all but shut down speedy Chris Rainey’s runs by playing stout defense on the edge. Two weeks later Ole Miss rolled up 220 yards against Auburn by beating them to the outside.

Four weeks into the season, Auburn held Marcus Lattimore, one of the best downhill runners in the country, to just 66 yards on 17 carries, but LSU, Georgia and Alabama all eventually broke through that same defensive wall.

The pass defense never really found any kind of rhythm at all.

All of that has to change for VanGorder’s Auburn defenses to be mentioned with the units listed above, the top four defenses in the country in terms of total yardage.

VanGorder offered precious little insight into his defensive plans at his introductory press conference earlier this week.

He did say that he will continue to run the 4-3 as his base defense, a decision that comes as no surprise given his history as a high-profile coordinator with Georgia and the Atlanta Falcons.

Other than that, Auburn’s new defensive coordinator offered very little in the way of hints, other than to say he wants his defenses to run to the ball.

But if VanGorder’s history as a defensive coordinator is any indication -- and good defensive coaches rarely change their stripes -- the hallmarks of Auburn’s new defenses may not be too hard to spot.

VanGorder has always built his defenses around speed and athleticism.

During his time at Georgia, six Bulldogs -- defensive tackle Jonathan Sullivan, safety Thomas Davis, defensive end David Pollack, safety Sean Jones, outside linebacker Boss Bailey and middle linebacker Odell Thurman -- were selected in the top two rounds of the NFL Draft.

All six were freakish athletic specimens who had plenty of quickness.

Over time, his defense started to take over the same look in Atlanta. John Abraham has always been one of the NFL’s better speed rushers. Curtis Lofton is all over the field. Weakside linebacker Sean Weatherspoon is in the same mold.

Expect VanGorder to bring the same philosophy to Auburn, a team that already has some of the pieces in place in the front seven.

Corey Lemonier, Auburn’s best pass rusher, is a speed guy built in the Abraham mold. The Tigers’ leading tackler, linebacker Daren Bates, is a converted safety whose game is built around running to the football, and highly-touted linebacker prospect Kris Frost is a former wide receiver.

At times this season, Auburn was a team with speedy personnel trying to play power football. Meshing philosophies like that rarely works. Barring a philosophy change, VanGorder will most likely build his defenses around speed going forward.

And that’s just fine, because no defensive identity is inherently better than any other.

All that matters is that a defense’s calling card always works.

Joel A. Erickson, jerickson@ledger-enquirer.com

This story was originally published January 13, 2012 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Joel A. Erickson commentary on Auburn football: New defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder must build Tigers' identity from scratch."