AUBURN — Vigor High School’s Darius Philon committed to play football at Auburn on Monday, and his high school coach Kerry Stevenson said the defensive lineman’s style of play should look familiar to fans in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Stevenson said Philon resembles Sen’Derrick Marks, another Vigor defensive lineman who played for Auburn.

“Except, right now, he’s definitely stronger than Sen’Derrick was at this point, and he’s probably a little more explosive off the ball, too,” Stevenson said.

Marks went on to become an NFL second-round pick. Philon still has his senior high school season to go. But the 6-foot-2, 260-pounder from Prichard is coming off a good junior year when he had 93 tackles, including nine sacks and 20 tackles for a loss. He also had offers from Kentucky, Mississippi State, Texas Tech and Southern Miss, among others.

Philon missed Auburn’s Big Cat Weekend last week because of a previously scheduled trip with his uncle to Texas, but that didn’t stop him from becoming the Tigers’ seventh commitment for the 2012 signing class. It came after a whirlwind courtship.

Stevenson said Auburn didn’t really focus on Philon until Vigor’s spring game two weeks ago.

“It happened fast,” Stevenson said. “They saw Darius and liked him

via Darius Philon commits to Auburn, bringing comparisons to Sen’Derrick Marks | al.com.