'As good as I've seen': What recent 4-star commit Malik Blocton brings to Auburn football

AUBURN — Pike Road coach Granger Shook is only 37 years old, but he's been coaching football for about a decade.

First starting as an assistant coach on his alma mater's staff at Huntingdon College for four years, Shook also has stints as an assistant at Colquitt County in Georgia and Prattville High School near Montgomery. He got his first head coaching opportunity in 2020 at Trinity High School, where he spent three seasons before he left to take a job at Pike Road in March.

Shook has seen hundreds of players over the years, but there's something different about recent Auburn football commit Malik Blocton, who announced his intentions to join the Tigers on Saturday.

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"Malik sticks out in a good way," Shook told the Montgomery Advertiser this week. "He’s very blessed. The Lord has given him a lot of abilities and size and things that you can’t coach. He’s very, very explosive at the point of attack (and) he has very fast hands. His hands are very natural.

"He’s very instinctive when the ball is snapped. He's one of the few D-linemen that I’ve coached that wants to know why and wants to know the big picture. He doesn’t really want to just know what his technique is, but (he) wants to know the second level behind him and the DB stuff. He's a smart football player.”

Blocton is listed at 6-foot-4, 250 pounds on his 247Sports profile, but Shook estimates his star defender is actually closer to 275 pounds. It's a similar build to Blocton's older brother, Marcus Harris, who is currently a defensive lineman on Auburn's roster and is expected to earn a starting role by the time Week 1 versus UMass arrives Sept. 2.

Harris, tabbed at 6-3, 295 pounds, has versatility both on the inside as a tackle and on the outside as a defensive end.

"His older brother has developed and grown," Shook said. "... I think it’s just a matter of time before Malik is 6-3, 6-4, 305 and playing multiple positions up front. (I'm) very excited to continue to watch him grow and mature. He’s going to be a player to watch at Auburn very quickly.”

Rated as the No. 435 player overall in the Class of 2024, Blocton chose the Tigers over finalists Alabama, Florida, Texas and Troy. He's the seventh top-30 recruit in the state to pledge to play for Auburn this cycle, joining four-star edge Joseph Phillips (Booker T. Washington), four-star running back J'Marion Burnette (Andalusia), four-star cornerbacks A'Mon Lane (Moody) and Jayden Lewis (Anniston), four-star receiver Bryce Cain (Baker) and three-star linebacker D'Angelo Barber (Clay-Chalkville).

“I think it’s big, man," Shook said of the new Auburn staff coming in and recruiting a standout player from Pike Road. "I know there’s a bunch of players in the area that Auburn is recruiting. I know there’s some players here still on our roster that may be a little younger that Auburn is either recruiting or they’re flirting with recruiting.

"Coach (Hugh) Freeze has done a great job of coming in and establishing relationships with these kids and these coaches. I think Auburn is going to do a great job from here on out as far as recruiting central Alabama. There’s a lot of talent in this area.”

With Blocton's senior season still ahead of him, Shook said he'd like to see him work on his get off, get stronger and refine his leadership skills, though he said the No. 26 player in the state is already a "natural leader."

"But as far as between the lines, he's as good as I’ve seen at this level in high school football," Shook said. "We're lucky he’s playing for us and I’m excited to see what he does this fall.”

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Malik Blocton: What the 4-star commit will bring to Auburn football