SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYS

July 15, 2025

Keldric Faulk

Auburn Tigers

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Keldric Faulk.

Q. Coach Freeze was up here earlier talking about how he's giving everybody on the team a personality test. I'm interested, have you taken one of those yet and what that entails?

KELDRIC FAULK: Yeah, I took a personality test. It was just to see what kind of person you are and really just to figure out a different way to approach you whenever something goes wrong.

Q. He was up here talking about how he's embracing high expectations for this team this year. What are your expectations for what this defense could be, how good it can be?

KELDRIC FAULK: I feel our defense could be the best in the country, in my opinion. We have so many guys that played last year that was young, especially in our secondary. Our secondary was containing mostly freshmen and second-year guys.

I feel like everybody has another year under them. Really that's another year of maturity. So, I do expect a lot out of our whole defense. We should, at the end of the year, be the best defense in the country.

Q. What's it been like this year? It's your third year, but this year your brother is here with you. What's it been like having him on campus this year?

KELDRIC FAULK: It was just like it was in high school. He was -- my brother is my best friend. Just having my best friend, so just having my best friend back in the same area as me is one of the best things in the world, what I dreamt about having. It's been a dream just to have him up there just with me every day.

Q. A lot of the vocal leaders from last year's team have moved on. They're out of eligibility. How has your role changed? And where else is the leadership coming from the defense this year?

KELDRIC FAULK: Last year I was one of the leaders that led by example. Like you said, a lot of them left and they were one of the most vocal ones on the team, so I had to take over that role of just being a little more vocal, letting people hear my voice because a lot of people like to say when the team hear my voice, a lot of people listen.

One, just keep going and leading by example, but also trying to lead the young guys and getting the transfer guys in and adjusted as well.

Q. Could you talk about the impact Jourdin Crawford has made on the defensive line and what you've seen from him this offseason?

KELDRIC FAULK: Jourdin Crawford, he's going to be one of the most aggressive guys on our D line. He's a big guy, powerful, explosive. And to be his size, he can move extremely well.

Me, I'm greatly excited just to have him on the team. He's going to be one of the best players on that defense in the next coming years.

Q. How have you grown as a person over the past couple of seasons now to where you are viewed as one of the best players on this team. People are talking about you as a potential first-round pick next year. How do you deal with some of those expectations internally?

KELDRIC FAULK: Don't deal with it. I take every day and deal with it every day like I've been doing. I don't worry about the NFL or worry about any of that. I worry about the 2025-2026 season with the Auburn Tigers.

Q. We talked about being in the same position and now being back here. You're looked as a leader. Coach gives you praise, (indiscernible) one of his guys. What does it mean for you to be in that position, to be looked at as one of those guys?

KELDRIC FAULK: It means my team has a lot of faith in me and a lot of faith in how I approach the game, how I lead them and just how much energy I bring to each and every person on that team.

I make sure that everybody is up to beat, everybody is ready to work, and make sure we have a very productive game because we can't lose not one of them.

Q. Hugh's record since getting to Auburn, 11-14 has been trumpeted a lot, he's on a lot of hot-seat lists. As a leader on the team who plays hard for him, do you take that personally? Do you challenge your teammates to make sure he's taken off some of these lists at the end of the season?

KELDRIC FAULK: I do take that personally. Coach deserves this job, and it's up to us now to -- not to keep this going. Coach has put some of the best people around us, whether it be coaching staff, players that he's brought in. So he's brought in his own players, his own coaching staff. Now it's up to us to go out there and execute.

Q. You guys are opening up with Baylor this year. A little different than the last two openers. How much of a difference do you think that's going to make in fall camp or preparation, or have you seen guys maybe being a little more focused, energized knowing you'll have to be real sharp in week one?

KELDRIC FAULK: Baylor is, they're not a pushover team. We are coming in, we're opening up a week of fall camp just with a focused mindset. We're surely not going to keep them in our main focus when we first start off. But we're definitely going to prepare like we're playing them that following week.

Q. How much urgency have you felt this offseason to turn things around and get that winning season that's been elusive?

KELDRIC FAULK: When I came through high school, I was never used to having a losing season. And a lot of guys just come to Auburn, we never was used to having a losing season.

So just to get back to that winning way, our winning ways, it was vital for me. I want to feel the drive just for, at the end of the game to know that we put a team away.

For us to do that, we've got to be more consistent. And we practice consistent. We have to work out consistent. We have to eat, drink and sleep consistently.

Q. There's been a lot of talk about the Auburn-Georgia game being cut. What's your take on that? What does that game mean to you, with the nine-game conference schedule the SEC is losing to expand.

KELDRIC FAULK: They can't do that. They can't do that right there. Georgia is one of the games we look forward to playing. We have to keep Georgia on our schedule.

Q. You kind of touched on it a little bit, but you're putting pressure on yourself personally. How much pressure is actually on this team to have a special season there, year three with Hugh and that kind of thing?

KELDRIC FAULK: I feel like it's a lot of outside pressure on us just because of the past two seasons, but I feel like our team is so much confident, so much more confident than they were in the past couple years.

I don't feel like -- nobody on the team is overwhelmed with the pressure. I feel like we're embracing it because that's what we want. And our expectations for ourselves is even greater than the expectations that people have for us.

Q. Up here for the second year in a row representing the pass rush, where else is the pass rush going to come from for Auburn this year? Who else can you single out as a guy people should watch out for?

KELDRIC FAULK: Keyron Crawford, he's one of those guys that will have a breakout season this year. He's one of the guys that came in later on in the season and gave a great pass rushing presence.

And now that he's played a year in the SEC, he gets a feel for it, I feel like now he's going to take a huge step and just being a tremendous ball player.

Q. How different is this offensive line group than the one you've seen at Auburn the last two years?

KELDRIC FAULK: They're a lot more versatile. So we have a lot of guys, they can play everywhere across the O line. And those guys are long and athletic. Like, our tackles are 6'8", have seven-foot wing spans. They can move pretty well. I feel like this has been the best O line we've recruited so far.

Q. I want to ask you specifically about Amaris. We heard from him this spring, I guess, how more mature he feels he's been, how big of a step forward. What have you seen from him, a guy plays a similar position, where have you seen him grow?

KELDRIC FAULK: Amaris has grown in every aspect, maturity, physically. Amaris, the way he approaches every day is a lot different. He doesn't approach it like a freshman. He approaches it like a fourth-year senior. He's going to be a really good player this year. He's going to contribute tremendously well.

I'm excited for him because he didn't get a lot of playing time last year. He got in some games, but he didn't get a lot of playing time. But he approached the offseason like a pro should. If he keeps approaching the rest of the offseason going into fall camp like that, he's going to do really great things.