Auburn defensive star announces plans for 2022

Derick Hall II has become one of the leaders of the Auburn defense. On Thursday, he took to Twitter to reveal that he would return to the Tigers for another season — bypassing the opportunity to leave for the 2022 NFL Draft.

“First I would like to thank God for this opportunity,” started Hall. “Without him, none of this would be possible. Thank you to my family for being by my side through it all. Next, I would like to say thank you to the Auburn family for all the love and support throughout the past three years here on the plains.

“The NFL has always been a dream of mine and something that would be a great accomplishment. But – after much thought and prayer – there’s more for me and Auburn to share. With that being said, I will be returning for my senior year! War Eagle!”

Moreover, the return of Hall is a huge boost to the Tigers defense. Last season, Hall was a force for Auburn — accumulating 52 tackles and nine sacks on the year. Additionally, the star defensive end forced two fumbles, as well.

In each season as a member of the Tigers, Hall has improved upon his previous by leaps and bounds. In his return to the program, the heights he reaches could be scary for opponents.

Derick Hall II proved how good he could be in 2021. Next season, he’ll look to dominate for the Auburn Tigers.

Bryan Harsin on Auburn future: ‘We want to win.’

One person who’s happy about Derick Hall II returning to Auburn is coach Bryan Harsin. After a demoralizing loss to Houston in their bowl game, Harsin focused on the future on his program.

“We want to win, and we want to be successful, and Auburn football should, in my opinion,” Harsin said. “There’s things to clean up, there’s a lot to do, and we’re here to do it. So these next couple days, we’ll reevaluate where we are, we’re going to dive right into recruiting and we’re going to get back together as a staff and we’ll go through, ‘What did we learn.’ … We’ll get Austin Davis here on staff and we’ll have a team meeting on the 11th and we hit the ground running.

“And we’re not going to back down. That’s just the bottom line. We’ve got a lot of work to do and we know where we want to be and the guys that are in our program that are going to be a part of what we’re doing, they’re going to have the same mentality, too. I know they are because there’s a lot of new faces that are going to be sitting in that team room very soon. I know there’s a lot of guys that are coming back that want those things. … This game is disappointing. Once we get back to Auburn and we have a chance to kind of sit back there for a few hours and take all this in, we’ll get right back on to what we have to do to get better.”