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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

From one Tiger stripes to another, Demarcus Riddick picked up on the plains right where he left off at Chilton County High School and captured a selection to the 2024 Southeastern Conference All-Freshman Football Team.

Announced earlier in December, Auburn University’s Riddick earned the honor after a stellar freshman campaign for the Tigers that saw him ranked amongst the highest in defensive stops by true freshman linebackers in the country during the 2024 season. Riddick was joined by three other teammates on the All-Freshman Team, giving Auburn the co-led on the team with four selections alongside The University of Florida and The University of Tennessee. Riddick was selected as one of the four linebackers on the All-Freshman Team, and he was joined by Florida’s Myles Graham, Tennessee’s Jalen Smith and The University of Georgia’s Chris Cole

“I’ve grown and changed a lot,” said Riddick in an interview with Shelly Poe of Auburn University earlier in the 2024 season. “In high school football, I didn’t know how to study the game but when I got here, I got taught a lot about football. Knowing I could learn and master all that has given me a lot of confidence as a football player and as a student.”

Riddick came off a great career at CCHS and was a four-star recruit by many national recruiting outlets coming out of high school. He was originally committed to Georgia, but Riddick reopened his recruitment and landed on the plains of Auburn to stay close to home and give him a chance to make an immediate impact on the field.

Riddick enrolled at Auburn early in January 2024 and immediately got to work. His freshman season got off to a slower start, but as he grew in the defensive scheme, he blossomed into a great linebacker. He saw action in the season opener against Alabama A&M University, but really jumped on the scene in week five against The University of Oklahoma with a team-high six tackles and added a sack. From there, Riddick impressed and flexed his muscle to tally 27 tackles, five of those coming for a loss, and three sacks in his freshman season.

“My favorite part of playing college football is just being out here with all the guys, with my brothers,” Riddick said later in the interview with Poe. “That’s the best part about it.”