Why DL Marlon Davidson being ‘raised right’ by his late mother is critical to Auburn

Matthew Stevens | Montgomery Advertiser

Show Caption Hide Caption Auburn DL Marlon Davidson after spring scrimmage (March 24, 2018) Auburn DL Marlon Davidson after spring scrimmage (March 24, 2018)

AUBURN — While sitting in Marlon Davidson’s hometown of Greenville, Auburn defensive line coach Rodney Garner felt the need to praise his late mother.

Before speaking at an Auburn alumni club function on June 7, Garner said what he liked most about Greenville’s most coveted prospect who has started on Auburn’s defensive line from the first day he stepped on campus.

“He was raised right,” Garner said. “That is no question.”

Davidson was raised by his mother Cynthia Carter, who passed away in February 2015, and will happily tell the story of his mother not letting him quit football in eighth grade after he walked off the practice field in Greenville.

“Something that my folks and my mom always told me to do — never give up,” Davidson said. “When there is a play to be made, it’s a play to be made. If you feel like you can go make it, go make it. I feel like that on every play.”

Garner’s defensive boss, Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele, most definitely agrees with Garner’s assessment as Davidson has been a solid contributor in his 26 career starts.

“The biggest thing is the guy is emotionally mature. It's like he's been around here for three years,” Steele said. “The guy plays relentless. He plays from sideline to sideline, and does his job before he has to release and do somebody else’s too.”

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Carter moved her family, which included Marlon being the youngest of her four children from Greenville to Montgomery before she passed away following an accident where she collapsed and hit her head during a doctor’s visit. The move was supposed to give Davidson more opportunities at G.W. Carver High School and while all parties involved admitted that happened, Carter’s youngest son decided to move back to Greenville to finish high school to be closer to family members in the area following his mom’s death.

As he sat in the clubhouse of the RTJ Cambrian Ridge golf course in Greenville, Garner wasn’t going to leave without acknowledging that the personality and intangible aspects of Davidson’s profile were already set before Auburn began recruiting the five-star defensive lineman in the 2015 class.

“If they’ve got good stuff in them, good stuff is going to come out eventually. I definitely think the core values, the discipline, the structure and all those things are very important. Those are the guys that you’re trying to identify through the recruiting process, which has become so out of whack.”

Tigers head coach Gus Malzahn has repeatedly said Davidson plays like an old-school player without the ego and mental errors coming from younger players that aren’t familiar with the nuances of their playbook or position.

“He’s a young guy that plays like an old guy,” Malzahn said. “He’s a great competitor, he’s got great technique, and he’s tough. We’re real pleased with him.”

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Garner said those old-school tendencies from Davidson come from his support system led by his older brother, Ken Carter, who was an Auburn defensive lineman from 2010-13 with 12 career starts.

“They got so many other things pulling at them every day that’s trying to take them the wrong way, that you need some guys that are good players that are willing to step up and stand in the paint and stand for what’s right and be willing to take those hits from their peers. You know, their peers may want to do whatever feels good right at that moment, but it’s not necessarily the right thing.”

And that’s not to say Davidson and Garner haven’t had face-to-face moments in practice scenarios when Davidson said he has “emotional moments” with arguably the most demonstrative coach on the Auburn staff.

“Even when he wants to have temper tantrums and have his own way, he was taught the right way (by his mother),” Garner said. “I think he still likes to test the waters to see how far he can go. So I just always let him know, ‘I’m going to be more stubborn than you are.’ That’s the one thing that’s going to stay consistent. I don’t know why we have to keep going down these roads. That’s just the way it’s going to be.”

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Davidson said he constantly spoke to his older brother about the unexpected mental toughness needed to get through his first season of college football. As the first player in Auburn history since at least 1985 (that’s when Auburn started tracking individual starts) to be a defensive line starter in his first college game, Davidson was the first to say his 2016 season was anything but a plug-and-play situation

“It's hard. Every day, I get challenged but it's nothing that I can't overcome. Coach G is Coach G. You can't stop that. My first practice here at Auburn to see how he coached was when I got here. I never came to practice or nothing. I never knew what it took to play under Rodney Garner until last year. And it's hard. I've never seen anybody like him. I've been to everybody's practices, and it's just something different about Coach G and it’s something I needed.”

Ken Carter, who is in his third season as a defensive analyst on the Auburn coaching staff, is trying to tell him more what he regrets in his playing career to make sure the more talented Davidson doesn’t make the same mistakes.

“It’s very important because not only is he showing me things he did but things he should’ve done in his college career,” Davidson said. “He’ll tell me things he should’ve taken more seriously or didn’t think was important at the time.”

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In an injury-plagued 2017 season, Davidson registered 43 tackles, 6 1/2 tackles for loss and 3 1/2 sacks where he suffered an elbow injury in the previous spring, a knee injury in preseason camp and never found himself with a healthy body until at least the Peach Bowl loss against Central Florida on New Year’s Day.

“He looked like a one-leg, one-arm guy sometimes,” Garner said. “But he’s a tough guy, loves football, is passionate about it and he fought and overcame it. Not having those limitations definitely helped him (this past spring).”

On an Auburn defensive line that returns three starters and what Garner would describe as “six starters” despite losing one of the most dominant pass rushers in Jeff Holland, Davidson will be looked at as an experienced leader in his third year with the Tigers.

“I don’t know if it’s the last step. The next step. I just think there’s a lot left. There’s definitely a lot of maturity left, and I think Marlon would be the first one to admit that. Just the matriculation. Obviously, he’s a very talented young man and Marlon, for the most part, has been good. But I think if he got a crack at being great, he would definitely take advantage of it.”