Where I Come From: My All-Time Favorite Auburn Players
by Jay Coulter on Jul 8, 2010 1:00 AM CDT
in EA Sports NCAA FB 11
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Picking your favorite Auburn players is like browsing The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition and settling on the two best looking models. It's damn near impossible. My favorite Tiger players over the years run the gamut from quarterbacks to cornerbacks. As you will see, it's impossible to pick one favorite or ten. Here's my best shot...
My earliest "hero" was quarterback Phil Gargis. He wore number 11 and played on some of Shug Jordan's last teams. He was the toughest player I'd ever seen. He took shots from defenders that today's quarterbacks would buckle under. You won't find his name on any all-conference teams and there's few mentions of him in Auburn's own record book. But when it came to grit and determination, there were few better than Gargis.
Speaking of quarterbacks, who can forget Dameyune Craig? Being a toddler when Sullivan played, Craig is without question the best Auburn quarterback of my generation. Were it not for some questionable dropped passes, Craig would be wearing an SEC Championship ring for his performance in 1997. He'll always be one of my favorites.
I wrote about the 1983 team earlier in the week and there are plenty on that team that remain some of my all-time favorites. Perhaps the most unique was defensive back David King. He's the hardest hitting Auburn player to dress out in my lifetime. He could flat out hurt people. I'll never forget turning on MTV one day and seeing him on-screen dressed like Prince. It was just plain weird. I can't recall the circumstances surrounding it. I just remember thinking, how could someone so tough, look so much like... Prince?
Who can forget those great Wayne Hall defenses of the 1980's? Names like Harold Hallman, Greg Carr, Tommie Powell, Donnie Humphrey, Doug Smith, Ben Thomas and Kurt Crain bring back floods of great memories. I'll never forget seeing Humphrey walk across campus one Sunday afternoon with a tshirt on that read, "Give Georgia a Bo Job."
To this day, I still wonder how Auburn managed to lose like they did in the late '70's with the likes of Joe Cribbs, James Brooks and William Andrews in the backfield. Every kid who wore an Auburn tearaway jersey worshiped those three. Andrews became one of my all-time favorites when he joined the Atlanta Falcons after leaving Auburn. And what kid didn't line up in his backyard as Charlie Trotman? I still have my orange number six jersey put away for safe keeping.
And then there were the obvious favorites - the ones who make everyone's list of all-time favorite players: Lionel James, Bo Jackson, Randy Campbell, Brent Fullwood, Tommy Agee, Lawyer Tillman, Jeff Burger, Carnell Williams, Jason Campbell, Ronnie Brown, Stephen Davis, Brandon Cox and Courtney Taylor. I could go on literally all day.
Mention their names and certain plays or games immediately come to mind. When I say Tommy Agee, how many of you immediately think of the 1983 Maryland game? When I say Brent Fullwood, how many of you think about the 1984 Florida State game in Tallahassee? When I say Lawyer Tillman do you immediately think of Grant Field in 1987?
The great thing about remembering these players and these special times are the circumstances around them. It's what makes them special all these years later. Maybe you were with your girlfriend at Jordan-Hare Stadium or your high school or college buddies. Perhaps you were sitting there with a parent who's no longer here. We have favorite players not only for the way they played, but when they played and circumstances under which they performed.
Writing this has brought back a flood of great memories; many of which I haven't thought about in years. It's what makes us love Auburn and the players associated with it. The best part is that new memories are made each year.
Who are some of your favorite Auburn players? Can you narrow the list any better than me? Good luck!
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My Favorites
This is easy for me.
Pat Sullivan, Terry Beasley and Bo Jackson.
I attended my first game in 1971 and saw Sully hookup with The Beas to soundly defeat Ga. Tech. At the conclssion of the game, we walked across the field and waited for the players to leave the locker room. I got autographs from Sullivan, Beasley, Shug Jordan and a host of others. I wrote a letter to Pat Sullivan shortly before he won the Heisman Trophy and he responded by sending me a personally autographed photo which has become one of my most cherished possessions.
Although Bo Jackson is on the list for obvious reasons, I really respect the fact that Bo Jackson has become a wonderful ambassador for Auburn and maintains close ties even after all of these years.
John Vaughn
He’s definitely my favorite Auburn player.
Although I did win my fantasy football league Caddy’s rookie year in the NFL. I picked him up in like the 5th round. He was money. Close second place for Caddy.
John Vaughn was one of the best kickers ever to wear an Auburn uniform
But everyone will always remember him for that one game. It’s a shame, really
Favorites....
Mmmm, There are alot of them thats for sure. I loved Dameyune Craig. He was such an incredible player. Rocker was a beast in his hay days. Lawyer Tillman’s catches will forever be stuck in my memory. As will Frank Sanders’. The runs of Rudi Johnson, Carnell Williams, Ronnie Brown, and Stephen Davis will forever be etched in my brain. But if I had to pick one guy, one player that embodied everything that Auburn is, was, or ever will be in my book it would have to be Heath Evans. I loved watching that guy kill people and then after he was finally tackled he would jump up and run back over to their carcass and pick them up off the ground. He was a great player and still continues to be that same guy today. A wonderful athlete and a better person. Glad he was a tiger….
It's tough...
I tear up watching the Jason Campbell highlight video with the quotes about him set to “Back in the High Life Again”. Courtney Taylor was everything we want in an Auburn player. Unheralded, unwanted, but never unappreciated (not just all the TDs and the 4th and 13 against LSU, but what about hustling behind Devin at UGA in 2005 and saving that fumble from going out the back of the endzone?). Tony Richardson and Reid MacMillon were early favorites. Shane Wadsden will always be high on my list.
But it all comes back to Dameyune. I was 12 and 13 when he started. I was 10 when he came in during a blowout and scrambled 16 yards on his first career snap. Those are VERY formative years for a young fan. Dameyune was a once-in-a-lifetime type player on a very average team. I hate that he played in the era before message boards and blogs, because I can only imagine how much opposing fans would shake their heads at the plays he used to make.
Rudi Johnson and David Lagner
The guy I most loved watching play might have been Rudi Johnson. I loved watching him rack up yards after contact and get stronger and stronger as the game went on and defenders got weaker and weaker and more tired of getting trucked by him.
David Langner was a guy that I am too young to have gotten to see but from talking to people from back then, especially his teammates, I hear he was one of the meanest, toughest SOB’s to ever step foot on an SEC gridiron. If y’all have any stories about him I would love to hear ’em. Also, does anybody know where he played high school ball? Someone told me Pell City but I have never been able to find out for sure.
Trey Smith, Terry Henley, Rusty Dean, Trey Blackmon, Aundray Bruce
I played freshman ball with Langner-maybe the cockiest SOB i’ve even known. Great player though.
Trey Smith for his body of work but mostly for the one Bama game when he had to step in as the starting tailback. He ran all over Bama that day and brought home a win.
Terry Henley-All SEC RB in 73 or 74. Biggest hillbilly I ever met, always said the goofiest things in the paper-stuff about the Fla players biting his fingers in the pile and stuff like that.
Rusty Dean-came to AU as a QB, left as an all SEC Def end -all 235 lbs of him. Nicest guy you’d ever meet. Would go out of his way to stop and be friendly even though I didn’t know him all that well. A true Auburn man.
Trey Blackmon-about the “baddest ass” to put on an AU uni.
Aundray Bruce- terrorized the SEC for 3 years and could always be counted on for a big “sack” when you needed it most. Huge NFL bust. #1 pick in the draft- Falcons bust. Seem to recall that he is in jail for mortgage fraud or something.
Others too numerous to mention.
JB
Henley was a great back
but I am too young to have gotten to see him though. He came and spoke to our AU club a few years ago and was hilarious.
Carnell and Courtny
being fresh outta high school I wasnt even around to watch the great teams of the 80’s lol but Ive watched every game since i was bout 8 (dad didnt give me a choice when i was younger) I have some many memories of carnells runs, I can rember how my house reacted, mom running outside screaming when he took it 80 yards on the first play against bama. Courtny taylor also, I live on the gulf coast so hurricane ivan hit us hard. in 04 we had no power the week of the lsu game so we crowded around a 5 inch black an white t.v wile listing to the radio broadcast. when taylor caught that pass it took my mind off of everything going on. An time an time again he came threw with big plays when they counted most.
I could make a list just of LBs....
One of my favorite that no one has mentioned is Dansby. His interception and lateral to Dontarious Thomas, before going out of bounds, in the Peach Bowl against UNC has to be one of my favorite plays ever. Jason Miska for being one of the smallest, but grittiest LB in the SEC. Groves and Rocker on the ends. Carlos Rogers and Junior Rosegreen in the secondary. There are many many more on defense.
For the offense, I have to say Frank Sanders. His touchdown from Pat Nix in the Iron Bowl will always be with me. And everyone has listed the great running backs. James Bostic is one of my favorites that no one has mentioned. I knew that Dameyume Craig would do great things at Auburn when he torched us in the HS State Playoffs. I want to put a OL on this list, but it is hard because there have been so many great ones come out of Auburn. Marcus McNeil is one of my favorite.
I could go on for days. I am ready for this season to start, so we can put more players on this list.
Dansby and Caddy
I started following AU football after my Junior year, which happened to be 1993. There were some great players that came through since that time. The first games I attended back then seemed to have the phrase “stop made by Takeo Spikes and Marcelas Mastella” after every defensive play, and the name Takeo Spikes is almost as awesome as he was, so he was an early favorite. But Dansby will always stand out to me, partly because he comes from B,ham and was awesome and partly for this:
"Dansby said God spoke to him before the Tigers’ game at Arkansas on Oct. 11, telling him to walk around Reynolds Razorback Stadium seven times..
“Everything started coming to me like I was Joshua and I was leading the troops to Jericho,” he said. “[God] told me to come in, not to say anything and just walk around seven times. I walked around the field seven times. Some of the fans asked me why I was walking around the field so much. I just kept quiet. I marked my territory and the walls fell down. I just took over.”
Dansby’s fourth-down sack of Arkansas QB Matt Jones with less than three minutes to play sealed the 10-3 win"
If you watched the game (and remember how Matt Jones personally terrorized us the years before) that should bring goosebumps.
Caddy is just a great AU man. His and Ronnie’s selflessness should go down in sports history as an example of what can be accomplished if you don’t try to hog all the glory for yourself. And off the field he seems like just a great guy.
Takeo Spikes is/was great.
See you can make a list just of LB.
Jay is right, its hard to name just a few ...
… But my list has to start with Tommy Lorino primarily a running back on the "57 & ’58 teams, he also played defense and punted. Next would be All American Quarterback Jimmy Sidle,1963. He led the SEC in total offense and was the first QB to lead the nation in rushing ( a record that stood for over 30 years). Tucker Frederickson, would be next, a two way player that Shug Jordan said was the most complete football player he had ever seen in his entire career. He was a consensus All American and SEC player of the year. He was a fullback but I liked watching him play defense.
In the 70’s I liked watching Freddie Smith terrorize opposing offensives taems and I liked the big 3 running backs of the Barfield years. Smith was a terrific hitter that could cover seemingly the whole field.
The 80’s were packed with stars, but I like to watch Kurt Crain, Greg Carr, and Tracy Rocker on Defense. I liked all our RB’s of the 80’s but I particularly liked to watch Stacey Danley run the ball, he was blue collar but he was a lion hearted tough player. My favorite all time receiver in the 80’s or any other era was Freddie Weygand. Not a lot of flash but a lot of results. He seemed to have a knack of helping the QB and getting open.
The last 20 years I would have to list Patrick Nix, Frank Sanders, Cole Bennet, Heath Evans, Ronnie Brown, Antonio Coleman, and Will Herring who is Auburn football’s Iron Man with 49 consecutive starts. Yes this is diificult but thinking back over those football seasons has got me fired up for 2010 … War Eagle everybody!
AubTigerman
"The reason you come to Auburn is because of Auburn people.This is a special place, from the coaches all the way to the fans" - Andrew McCain OT
Jason Campbell
Went through a ton of shit, and a ton of coordinators, but never hung his head, and gave us an incredible send-off
by jd is legend on Jul 8, 2010 6:49 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs
This ^
Upon moving to AL, I let my wife decide who she would root for. After one day at a new job full of Bama fans, she met me at the door with a hearty cry of "WAR EAGLE"
by SandMountainTiger on Jul 9, 2010 5:06 PM CDT up reply actions
Just a few
BO,
Jason Campbell-A True leader in every sense of the term.
Jerraud Powers-Physical Defensive Back and always fought his tail off for his squad
John Vaughn-Got knocked down and death valley and resurrected himself against UGA in 2005, what a true story of character.
Tre Smith-The 2002 Bama Game and huge recovered fumble against Florida for the TD
Brandon Cox- Did the best he could have done with the talent allotted to him, great to see him end his career with a Chick Fila Bowl Title.
Caddilac/Ronnie Brown/Pat Sullivan/KING DUNLAP/Trey Blackmon/Demayune Craig
by Orange and Blue 2014 on Jul 8, 2010 10:15 PM CDT reply actions
Some of mine...
Patrick Nix
Jason Campbell: gave us all he had. A player I wish we could have back badly. Imagining him in Malzahn’s system is scary.
Brandon Cox: I’d say one of the most debated AU football players ever. No one can argue with the effort he gave and the adversity he had to overcome to wear an Auburn jersey. A great example of an Auburn Man. BTW, anyone know what he’s up to these days?
Carnell Williams and Ronnie Brown: In my opinion, its a to mention one without the other. AND we could have had Brandon Jacobs too! Sheesh. But I’ll settle with how these two did for us :D
Bo Jackson: No explanation needed.
Courtney Taylor
Devin Aromashudu
Tre Smith
Chris Todd: A great guy and a great Auburn man. Younger kids can learn a lot from his attitude and the examples he set on and off the field.
And too many more to name….as many others have said I could go on all day.
War Eagle
Hard list to narrow down....
but I’ll try.
Pat Sullivan, Bo Jackson, Tracy Rocker, Aundre Bruce, Kevin Porter, Takeo Spikes, Junior Rosegreen, Jason Miska, Marcus McNeil, Joe Cribbs, Lionel James, Cadillac, Ronnie Brown, Jason Campbell, Karlos Dansby, Jarraud Powers, Marcus Washington, Sen’Derick Marks, Reggie Torbor, Kendall Simmons, Greg Carr, Cole Cubelic, Pat Campbell, Alexander Wright, Rudy Johnson, Frank Sanders, Brent Fullwood……
Sorry couldn’t narrow it down.
I would have gone to bammer if my grades hadn't been good enough to go to AU
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