New AU linebacker energized

Josh Bynes thought he got a little crazy after making a big hit.

Then Eltoro Freeman came to camp.

“He’s fired up every day,” Bynes said. “He said ‘That’s how I am.’ I said ‘I ain’t gonna knock your hustle down.’”

Freeman, a junior-college transfer, hasn’t had his hustle hampered in the first week of practice at Auburn. He’s remained just as loud and has kept the same pedal-to-the-metal attitude he had all throughout his time at Benjamin Russell High School and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.

It’s the only way he knows.

But from time to time, he said, it needs to be tempered. And he’s working on that.

“The first day I got out there, man, I was just going full speed,” Freeman said. “I wasn’t understanding everything but I was just doing every drill at full speed.”

Once he mixes that enthusiasm with an understanding of his responsibilities play by play, Freeman said his presence will make much more of an impact.

“The speed hasn’t changed,” Freeman said. “It’s just adjusting to the new system and once I get that down, I’ll be good.”

Defensive coordinator Ted Roof said Freeman is slotted with the second-team linebackers on the strong side behind Craig Stevens for now, but the depth chart is ever changing. His past experience, though, has only been on the weak side.

Translation: If he emerges as a top-three linebacker, or simply as one of the best 11 defenders, there will be a spot for him on the field.

“He loves to play and loves to compete,” Roof said.

“It’s our job to get him ready to play and he will be.”

Getting Freeman into camp after he failed to qualify in 2007 was an easier task.

After failing to qualify, Freeman enrolled at the Mississippi junior college but opted to play just the 2007 season.

He chose to redshirt the 2008 season so he could maximize his time with the Tigers when he qualified.

When Tommy Tuberville resigned and an entirely new coaching staff was brought on board, Freeman didn’t waver. Auburn was the only place he cared to rectify his youthful mistakes.

Even after the disappointing 2008 season, where confusion reigned over progress, Freeman wasn’t deterred.
Actually, he was inspired.

“Tuberville wasn’t on my scholarship, (former linebackers coach James Willis) wasn’t on my scholarship. Auburn University was on my scholarship,” Freeman said. “When Auburn had a down season, I sat back and thought about that, they were with me when I was down, so I decided to stick with them when they were down.”

Now, it’s all about patience.

“Anytime it’s your first experience with D-I football, whether it’s from junior college or high school, there’s always a transition,” Roof said. “You can see the light starting to come on. Now, instead of having to say things to make corrections, when I’m saying them, he’s sitting on his head like, ‘Yea, I know coach.’

“He knows now what he’s doing wrong.”

Even though the wrong things may be a bit too high for the liking at the moment, Freeman’s zeal to be here has been more than enough for his teammates to think optimistically.

“He gets so amped up that he doesn’t think about the plays every now and then – he’s just running around out there,” Stevens said. “He’s energized. I think once he calms down and focuses on the plays that he’s got, he’ll be a good player.”