Auburn welcomes back Tracy Rocker

AUBURN — Tracy Rocker talks a big game when it comes to his area of expertise.

“It’s the most demanding position probably in football. And it’s the most proven position,” Rocker said of the defensive line. “Every college team and every pro football team, they’re always looking for great defensive linemen because they are so hard to find.

“When we see teams that have great defensive line, usually they are pretty dang good as a team as a whole.”

It’s safe to say Rocker has earned that right. Auburn fans know firsthand just how dang good he was.

Twenty years since his final game as a player, Rocker will return as the new defensive line coach at Auburn, the place he established that swagger as one of the best defensive linemen in SEC history.

“Coming back is a great honor,” Rocker said Monday in a teleconference. “I’m not the player anymore. I’m the coach. And those are things I’m striving to be: a great coach and be special.”

Rocker becomes the seventh coach on Gene Chizik’s staff. Auburn still needs an offensive line coach and a defensive secondary coach.

Rocker will coach the entire defensive line, bucking how the hierarchy was set up under former coach Tommy Tuberville. For the past 10 years, Terry Price coached defensive ends and Don Dunn coached defensive tackles.

“I’m expecting a challenge. I’m looking forward to it,” Rocker said. “It’s a great honor to be there, but we’ve got our work cut out for us. And the thing I’m looking forward to most is hard work.”

Simply put, Rocker is an Auburn legend.

Rocker, an Atlanta native, was a two-time All-American and three-time All-SEC. He became the first SEC player ever to win both the Outland Trophy — awarded to the best interior lineman in college football — and the Lombardi Trophy — given to the best lineman or linebacker.

A picture of Rocker posed with the trophies hangs prominently in the Rane Room of the Auburn Athletic Complex.

“It’s a tremendous privilege to be able to add to our staff one of the greatest players to ever wear an Auburn uniform,” Chizik said in a statement. “Tracy’s ability as an All-American player and his reputation nationally as a defensive line coach will provide instant credibility to our players and recruits.”

After a brief stint in the NFL and now-defunct World League of American Football, Rocker began to establish his credibility as the defensive coordinator at Auburn High. His first college gig was at West Alabama, where he spent three years as defensive line coach.

During his five-year tenure at Troy, Rocker said he crossed paths with Chizik, when the new Auburn coach was Central Florida’s defensive coordinator.

Rocker, 42, has spent his past six years alongside Houston Nutt at Arkansas and Ole Miss. This season, the Rebels boasted one of the best defensive lines in the nation, tying for first nationally in tackles for loss and finishing first in the SEC and tied for fourth in the nation with 39 sacks.

“Six years — it was a great six years. We had some great runs,” Rocker said. “I enjoyed it, but it comes a time when we all have to part ways and move on in this type of business.”

Rocker said he will get down to business at Auburn immediately. He said he has never personally met defensive coordinator Ted Roof, but has heard plenty of good things.

“We’ll have a whole lot to talk about, and I’m hoping that we can both make this thing work together,” Rocker said.

Rocker said he doesn’t have much knowledge of the unit he will inherit, which is boosted by the return of Antonio Coleman but hindered by the loss of Sen’Derrick Marks, who will forego his senior season and enter the NFL Draft.

“It’s a clean slate right now,” Rocker said. “I’m not here to make judgment on anything. I’m there to make sure we get it done and do it right and do it the Auburn way.”

To Rocker, that entails hard work, “leaving it all on the field,” and “playing hurt — pretty much everything Rocker did as a player.

“You run into people every day and you’re expected to run into them even harder on the weekend,” Rocker said. “Only a few guys get to play flag football. The offensive line and defensive lines don’t get to do that. They run into people.“