Auburn DT Colby Wooden reflects on returning: 'What can I do better? ... We owe it to Auburn'

Auburn defensive lineman Colby Wooden is heading into his third year as a starter up front.

The redshirt junior has more than 100 tackles and 9 sacks as a Tiger and was named to the SEC All-Freshman team in 2020 and was an All-SEC Honorable Mention last season.

But it wasn’t always easy for the former 4-star prospect out of Lawrenceville, Georgia.

Wooden told reporters on Friday that he was “soft” coming into his first training camp at Auburn before former defensive line coach Rodney Garner, now the defensive line coach at Tennessee, got him right.

Auburn DT Colby Wooden: “When I first got here, I was as soft as cotton.”

playing under Rodney Garner changed that pretty quickly https://t.co/4OaF7dTgiy

— Justin Ferguson (@JFergusonAU) August 5, 2022

Now Wooden wants the incoming freshmen class to know his story and understand that all the perks, bells and whistles that come with the recruiting process are forgotten once training camp begins.

Auburn DT Colby Wooden on his advice to new recruits: “Oh, the honeymoon phase is over. You’re coming to work, big dog.”

— Justin Ferguson (@JFergusonAU) August 5, 2022

Wooden was one of the 17 players from the SEC named to the Bednarik watch list.

Colby Wooden walks into his post-practice interview, clearly exhausted. He’s asked if that means the offensive line got the best of the defensive line today:

“No, that sun got the best of me. Hey, listen, I went to California, Texas — you name it, but that ‘Bama heat different”

— Tom Green (@Tomas_Verde) August 5, 2022