Maurice Swain goes from 'pond into an ocean'

AUBURN – Maurice Swain has known Rodney Garner for a while now.

The Auburn defensive tackle attended camp at Georgia, when Garner was with the Bulldogs, for three years while at Troup County High School in LaGrange.

So when Swain was tallying 32 tackles with 6 1/2 for loss at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Garner had few worries that he'd land the junior college transfer to the Plains.

"We had a really great relationship," Garner said. "We have a lot of history."

Swain even goes as far as to say Garner, perhaps the most demanding and cagey member of Auburn's coaching staff, is a "nice guy" despite all his hollering on the practice field.

"He's the same way everywhere he goes," Swain said. "Coach G is the man."

Auburn is hoping Swain can provide an immediate impact on the interior of the defensive line, where the Tigers have to replace four players.

Through 12 spring practices Swain has been adjusting to the more demanding style of the SEC.

"I knew it was going to be hard coming from JUCO," he said. "When you're that guy going from a pond into an ocean, I knew it was going to be pretty hard."

At 6-foot-5 295 pounds, Swain is a big fish no matter what body of water he's swimming.

The complexities of Will Muschamp's defense, which utilizes multiple fronts, compared to the one he played at MGCCC, is where Swain is being challenged most thus far.

"Pretty much JUCO, you got a couple of plays, you just play the down," Swain said. "Just knowing the concept of the defense is probably the biggest transition. … In the 3-4 I'm more of an end. I've got to transition to more of a contain guy and holding up the outside. In the 4-man (front), I'm just playing me. Doing what I know best."

Swain has brought plenty of energy to the practice field and is behind Montravius Adams and Dontavius Russell on the depth chart at this point.

"He's one of those guys who can run for a long period of time," Adams said.

The areas Swain needs to improve are his fundamentals.

"Swain's got great effort," Muschamp said. "He's got to improve his pad level."

Auburn wants Swain, the tallest interior player on the D-line, to capitalize on his size.

"He's a tall guy so just getting him to understand that he's got to play behind his pads," Garner said. "At Gulf Coast he could get away with playing high and still be a very adequate, disruptive guy, where in this league it's critical to play with great pad level and strike through his hips and violently."

After two years of tutelage under Garner, Adams is all too familiar with the same lessons.

"That's pretty much the only thing," Adams said, "just staying low."

Once Swain polishes his technique the skills that made him one of the top JUCO prospects in the country last year are expected to flourish in the fall. He's not getting ahead of himself and worried about position battles though.

"We've got guys everywhere that can play," Swain said. "Myself, I'm just trying to do what I can do for the team."