Williams broke out as a freshman and became the starting tailback by the end of the season, but injuries kept him from finishing the campaign. That someone, in this case, is Carnell "Cadillac" Williams, who has the most rushing touchdowns in Tigers history with 45 in four seasons. When someone is better than the legendary Bo Jackson in an all-time career rushing record at Auburn, that someone deserves a high spot on a list like this. Although injuries kept him from becoming an all-around great in the professional ranks, he was still one of the best linemen in Auburn history. The two-time All-American later played both offense and defense for the Baltimore Colts, New York Giants and the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos. "Bobby Dodd, then Georgia head coach, called Smith and Kentucky lineman Lou Michaels 'the greatest lineman in the SEC in the past 10 years.'" Smith was named All-SEC later that year," Smith's bio on reads. "He was the ringleader of a Tiger defense that held Tennessee to minus-33 yards offense and no first downs. After helping the Tigers win a national championship as a sophomore, Smith was a consensus All-American in 1958 and Auburn's first Outland Trophy winner as the sport's best interior lineman. Zeke Smith went from a small high school running back to unknown backup center at Auburn to a two-time All-SEC nose guard, starring in front of the Tigers' dominant defense from 1957-1959. Louis last season with the Rams, Fairley signed a one-year deal with the New Orleans Saints earlier this year.Īuburn has produced several dominant defensive linemen over its long history, but the first of its major stars up front was perhaps its best. He became the second player in Auburn history to win the Lombardi Award-the other being his defensive line coach at the time, Tracy Rocker-and he recorded three huge tackles for loss in the BCS National Championship Game win over Oregon.įairley was the 13th overall pick of the 2011 draft and spent his first four seasons in the league with the Detroit Lions. His game-changing ways on defense earned him consensus All-American honors and the SEC Defensive Player of the Year award. While most of the nation focused on Cam Newton's exploits, Fairley racked up 24 tackles for loss, 11.5 sacks and 21 quarterback hurries. Nick Fairley only played two seasons at Auburn after taking the JUCO route, but the unheralded recruit left the Plains as one of the most dominant defenders in school history and a key piece to a national championship team.Īfter a strong debut season in 2009, Fairley was the star of Auburn's 2010 defense by relentlessly going after quarterbacks and firing up the entire team with his playmaking. As always, please feel free to list your own top 10 in the comments below. With that being said, here's an updated countdown of the 10 best players to ever suit up for the Tigers, which was based on individual awards, All-American honors, school records held and number of team titles. Still, there aren't any right or wrong answers for the top 10 football players in Auburn history once you get past the top three-and even the order of that trio can be up for debate. (OK, maybe that last part is a bit of a stretch.) But after digging deeper into the record books, reading the firsthand accounts of the school's past greats and growing into an older and wiser college football analyst, I found myself questioning several of my selections. Last summer, I posted my list of the top 10 players in Auburn Tigers football history. So, one can imagine how tough it is to try to condense all that history of individual greatness into just a top-10 list of players. There are the three Heisman Trophy winners who are forever linked to many of the program's best moments and then there are the legends who paved the way for success on other title-worthy squads. Auburn's proud history in college football has produced some of the best athletes the sport has ever seen.
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