From his spot on the sideline, Jeffrey Whitaker makes sure to pay close attention to the action on the field when Auburn is kicking off.

The Tiger defensive tackle’s eyes are trained on one player in particular: freshman cornerback Robenson Therezie.

“We’re like, ‘Who’s he going to get this time?’” Whitaker said. “Bam! It’s like, ‘Aw, he did it again. Nice.’

“Watching special teams, it’s like I’m at the movie theater eating popcorn.”

Therezie, the Tigers 5-foot-9, 192-pound corner, earned a reputation as a bit of a head hunter at Miami’s Jackson High.

He hasn’t dissuaded anyone of that notion in his short time at Auburn.

“If you go back and look at his high school tape, it’s like, ‘Ain’t no way he’s doing this. It’s got to be some special effects or something,’” freshman safety Erique Florence said. “But then you see it in real life. We got the chance to see him put some guy to sleep. I’d never seen that that close before.

“He bring it when he bring it.”

Therezie has logged 11 tackles in limited action this year, including a team-leading five on special teams.

Most of them have been the bone-jarring variety.

Therezie earned the nickname “Cadillac” when he was a running back in youth football, from a coach who said he reminded him of former Auburn great Carnell “Cadillac” Williams.

That nickname could start to take on a new meaning. Such as “hits like a …”

“It’s how I’ve played the game since I signed up for it,” Therezie said. “People ask me why do I hit, tackle like that, dive at people? When I see myself doing that, I’m just going for the ball. I go for the ball. We’ve been trained to tackle in a position, but, I’m not quite comfortable with that.

“I don’t want to be a ‘me’ guy, but I like to tackle the way I’m comfortable tackling.”

That got him in trouble against Florida on Oct. 15.

The Gators ran an option with quarterback Trey Burton and running back Chris Rainey in the second quarter, with Burton pitching the ball off a split second before a navy-and-orange flash hit him right under the jaw.

Flag. Personal foul on Therezie. First down Florida.

And please take a seat, Robenson.

“I clotheslined him. Something like Ray Lewis and them boys in the league,” Therezie said. “Since I got that penalty on the hit on the quarterback, that was it for me.”

All part of the learning process, part of Therezie finding a way to channel that aggression in a way that helps the team instead of hurting.

His aggressiveness also worked against him in a big way against LSU on Saturday, when he got in an ineffective jam on receiver Rueben Randle at the line — in a situation in which he absolutely couldn’t lose Randle because he had no safety help over top — and Randle ran right by him for a 42-yard touchdown catch.

“You just have to have short-term memory,” said senior safety Neiko Thorpe, a cornerback in his first three years at Auburn. “That can make or break you. You’re only as good as your next play. There’s no point in dwelling on that one play.”

Therezie’s been in the ear of sophomore cornerback Chris Davis — among others — trying to bring himself entirely up to speed with the college game.

He’s got the confidence part taken care of already.

“I’ve been here long enough to know everything and be trusted to be on the field,” Therezie said. “And confident enough to face anyone that’s in front of me no matter how big he is or how much fame he has.”