Auburn’s MOST DANGEROUS Unit? 2026 Linebacker Room Breakdown

**SPEAKER_1** (0:04)
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**Ike Jones** (0:14)
Auburn Linebacker Room be one of the best in the country.
Welcome on in to Auburn Express TV, all aboard. You got Ike Jones in here talking a little Auburn Linebacker Room. And I just want to try to talk to you guys about room that I feel like has the potential to be one of the best out here, man. It's definitely one of the deepest rooms on the team. Well, the deepest room, in my opinion, on the team coming up in to this year, but just super talented and has the ability to go out there and really impact games. DJ Durkin has been a wizard in making sure linebacker play has been amazing at every stop of the way that he's been defensively. And he's got an immense amount of talent in this room from top to bottom. Let's talk about the Auburn Linebacker Room here in 2026 I'm going to run through this and we're going to start with the guys that are returning in terms of how I'm going to go through it. And then we'll talk about the new additions in there. But just kind of look at what the room looks like right here. So I'm going to skip over the first guy here because he is a newcomer to Auburn, even though he has the most snaps of anyone from last season, the transfer Michael Matthews-Canty from Hampton. But let's start with Xavier Atkins, the All-American, the guy who everyone is expecting to have the type of year that will transform the Auburn defense into something unstoppable, if we're being honest, right? He's going to be a guy that's going to make teams have to scheme for him. He's earned the respect. The junior linebacker, 6 foot, 210 pounds, 713 snaps last season. He was able to go out there and get 68 tackles last year.
Ten of those were sacks last year with 11 hurries and four QB hits. All of this according to PFF. But he is a guy that is a game record, game changer, has speed at the linebacker position, plays very instinctively and still very hungry. He is a guy that came in from LSU as a transfer last year, feeling a little disrespected and wanting to prove himself. And he acquitted himself very well in the season, putting Auburn in a lot of great positions defensively. Really, the coming out party for him last season was that Arkansas game in which he was just causing havoc all over the field. He had that crucial interception versus Texas A&M that led to the only score for Auburn in that game off of the tipped pass.
He's just a guy who was going out there making plays, particularly back after the season, and really started to creep up offensive coordinators' lists of guys that they have to look out for going into the season. He's not gonna catch anybody off guard this year, but he absolutely is going to be a guy that's gonna be able to be a game wrecker for Auburn this year. Can't say enough good things about Xavier Atkins, and we could, I can sit here and go on and on about the things that I feel like he's going to do well. But the tape doesn't lie, all of the hype is there for him this year. But it's gonna be the thing that's like, can he live up to that hype? I've talked about this before. Can he go out there and exceed the expectations now that it's not creeping up on anybody? The way in which he works, I believe he's gonna be able to go out there and do it, looking forward to a second season of Xavier Atkins on the plains there. Deebo, doing his thing. Let's keep it in motion, and we'll go over to the sophomore Elijah Melendez. And this is why this room is so immensely deep. Elijah Melendez could be a Mike Linebacker and be the quarterback out there as well. The green dot guy at 6 foot, 240 pounds, 271 snaps last year. So less than half the number of snaps of Xavier Atkins. But he, as a true freshman last year, absolutely, absolutely was out there punishing defenses, or excuse me, offenses in the way in which he operated. And he's not going to do anything but improve, in my opinion, going into this year.
Again, he's a guy, 240 pounds, but he moves quickly. He's got a lot of speed going downhill. Last year, he was able to accumulate 24 tackles. Again, this is according to PFF. I understand that certain places calculate tackles differently. Don't come in the comment section telling me I'm wrong. I'm reading this. 24 tackles for him last season, according to PFF.