Auburn has hired Marcus Woodson as its 10th assistant coach.

A 13-year coaching veteran most recently serving as defensive backs coach at Memphis for the past two years, Woodson will coach on Auburn's defense in a yet to be announced role.

"I'm very excited and humbled to be a part of the Auburn family and join coach Malzahn's staff," Woodson said in a statement. "Growing up in Mississippi and playing in the SEC, I am very familiar with the history of success at Auburn and can't wait to do my part to help with the winning tradition. I look forward to working with the defense and recruit the best players in the country to Auburn."

Schools cannot officially hire 10th assistants until Jan. 9, but Auburn has two assistants, offensive line coach Herb Hand and linebackers coach Travis Williams, whose contracts expired on Jan. 1. Malzahn has stated Hand would return.

During his two years at Memphis, the Tigers won 18 games and made two bowl appearances and the defense forced 60 turnovers, including 32 interceptions.

Heading into this season Memphis returned one starter in the secondary. The Tigers rank 121st nationally in passing defense this season, though defensive backs had 15 interceptions and forced five of 16 fumbles to help Memphis tie for third nationally with 31 turnovers gained.

"We're very excited to add Marcus to our staff," Malzahn said in a statement. "He is an outstanding coach, recruiter and an even better person. Marcus is a tireless worker and will be a great fit with our staff. He did a super job for coach (Mike) Norvell at Memphis and will do a great job at Auburn."

Woodson, who played at Ole Miss from 1999-2003, previously served at Fresno State (2014-15), Charleston Southern (2009-13) and Millsaps College (2006-08) and coached 10 all-conference players in his career. He earned $163,000 in 2017, second-lowest at Memphis this season, according to USA Today.

Greg Brown serves as Auburn's secondary coach and defensive coordinator Kevin Steele has expressed a desire to split the responsibilities either in the secondary or the edge rushers/outside linebackers from the defensive line and linebackers.

James Crepea is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @JamesCrepea.