Tag: Cadillac Williams

Defense by the Numbers: Top Tigers based on snap count

Which defensive player saw the most action during the 2022 season?

The offseason is now here, which means it is time to take a look back at the season that was for Auburn Football.

The 2022 season ended in disappointment as the Tigers finished with a 5-7 record. Auburn fired its head coach, [autotag]Bryan Harsin[/autotag], eight games into the season, which led to assistant coach [autotag]Cadillac Williams[/autotag] taking over and leading Auburn to a 2-2 record to close out the season.

Defensively, Auburn had great performances from such names as [autotag]D.J. James[/autotag], [autotag]Derick Hall[/autotag], [autotag]Colby Wooden[/autotag], and [autotag]Owen Pappoe[/autotag]. Their success translates to the time they spent on the field.

Auburn played a total of 894 plays on defense in 2022. Who saw the most playing time for Auburn on defense in 2022? Here’s a look at the data according to Pro Football Focus.

RELATED: Auburn Football’s top defensive players of 2022 according to Pro Football Focus

RELATED: Offense by the numbers: Top Tigers by snap count

Top in-state running back for 2025 visits Auburn

The Tigers will have to lure recruit Alvin Henderson away from the Crimson Tide.

One of the top running back prospects in the nation for 2025 has visited the Plains.

Alvin Henderson, a running back prospect out of Elba, Alabama, visited Auburn and met with coach Hugh Freeze on Saturday. Henderson doesn’t have an official ranking from 247Sports as a 2025 recruit, but he’s drawn a lot of interest from some of the nation’s premier teams — including Auburn’s rivals in Alabama.

This visit to Auburn was Henderson’s second in his recruiting process. but the first with the team’s new staff. Henderson was initially recruited by Cadillac Williams, who still remains with the team, so it appears Hugh Freeze and company are sticking with his recruitment to lure him away from the Crimson Tide. Henderson’s most recent visit before this latest one to Auburn was to Alabama, so it’ll be challenging for the team to win his favor and get him to play for the Tigers.

Henderson is one of seven running backs offered by Auburn for the 2025 class.

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Local restaurant to honor Cadillac Williams with special menu item

Fans will have the opportunity to construct the perfect burger or sandwich that will honor Cadillac Williams.

What does [autotag]Pat Sullivan[/autotag], [autotag]Rod Bramblett[/autotag], [autotag]Gus Malzahn[/autotag], [autotag]Bruce Pearl[/autotag] and [autotag]Cadillac Williams[/autotag] all have in common? They each have a menu item named after them at a local restaurant.

Niffers, an Auburn establishment best known for its’ burgers and sandwiches, announced Wednesday that they would recognize former Auburn running back and interim head coach Cadillac Williams with a special menu item.

“For all he did then & all he does NOW… Carnell “Cadillac” Williams deserves his own menu item,” the restaurant shared in a tweet.

What will the menu item be? That will be for Auburn fans to decide. Niffers has allowed the general public to construct the perfect burger or sandwich that will be perfectly named “The Cadillac.”

Fans have until Jan. 31 to build the perfect menu item. Participants in the contest will have the option to choose bread, protein, toppings, and sauces that will go on the item. The winner will receive a $100 Niffers gift card, and a free “The Cadillac” every month.

Williams rushed for 3,381 yards and 45 touchdowns during his time as a player from 2001-04. He later returned to Auburn as an assistant coach in 2019, and was named interim head coach following the dismissal of Bryan Harsin in 2022. He led the Tigers to a 2-2 record during his time as head coach, and was retained by newly hired head coach Hugh Freeze.

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Paul Finebaum is impressed with Auburn’s offseason momentum

The famed radio show host says that Auburn has the most momentum of any program in the SEC currently.

Despite finishing the 2022 season with a 5-7 record, Auburn Football has taken a drastic turn for the better since the offseason began.

Following Auburn’s loss to Alabama in the Iron Bowl, athletic director John Cohen announced the hiring of [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag] as the program’s next football coach. Not long after being officially named as the new leading man, Freeze got to work constructing a staff and recruiting the best players for his system.

The result? A stellar unit of coaches including former Tigers [autotag]Cadillac Williams[/autotag], [autotag]Zac Etheridge[/autotag], and [autotag]Marcus Davis[/autotag], in addition to reputable coordinators [autotag]Philip Montgomery[/autotag] and [autotag]Ron Roberts[/autotag], and a veteran defensive backs coach in [autotag]Wesley McGriff[/autotag].

Auburn also turned its’ recruiting class around. Prior to Freeze’s arrival, Auburn was ranked in the sixties for the 2023 recruiting cycle. Now, Auburn sits at No. 18 according to 247Sports, and continues to welcome viable options from the transfer portal.

All of this added momentum that Auburn has built in two short months has caught the attention of famed radio show host Paul Finebaum.

In a recent episode of “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning” from JOX 94.5 in Birmingham, Finebaum says that Auburn has the most momentum heading into next season of any fellow SEC program.

“To me, for the first time in three years, Auburn is moving forward versus just being stuck in the mud and with a coach who simply didn’t understand the way the current structure of college football works. I’m not predicting anything dramatic yet, because I really think we need to get a better look at what the roster looks like. But at least I feel momentum at Auburn, and that is a new story because we haven’t seen that in a while.”

In addition to a top-20 high school recruiting class, Auburn is currently No. 3 in 247Sports Transfer Portal rankings, behind only Florida State and Colorado.

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USF RB Brian Battie becomes latest name on Auburn’s radar

Battie, who rushed for 1,186 yards in 2022 at USF, visited Auburn on Sunday.

Auburn has done well in the pursuit of transfer portal talent, as they have added seven players since the open period that began on Dec. 5.

Most of its’ finds have been on the offensive and defensive line, as well as one tight end and a linebacker. The Tigers have yet to earn the signature of a skill position player, although many prospects have taken a visit to campus.

The most recent skill player to partake in a visit to Auburn is former USF running back [autotag]Brian Battie[/autotag]. Battie, who has accumulated 1,842 yards in three seasons with the Bulls, visited Auburn’s campus on Sunday. While there, he talked with running backs coach [autotag]Cadillac Williams[/autotag], offensive coordinator [autotag]Philip Montgomery[/autotag], and head coach [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag].

After his discussion with Auburn coaches, he came away feeling that he is a great fit in the Tigers’ system. He was also impressed with Auburn’s newly-built Woltosz Football Performance Center, saying that it “looks like something that colleges not even supposed to have.”

Auburn looks to add depth to its running back room following the departure of [autotag]Tank Bigsby[/autotag], who will take part in the upcoming NFL Draft. [autotag]Jarquez Hunter[/autotag] and [autotag]Damari Alston[/autotag] return to Auburn’s rotation, and four-star commit [autotag]Jeremiah Cobb[/autotag] is set to join this summer. Battie would be a great addition, as he rushed for 1,186 yards and eight touchdowns for the Bulls in 2022.

According to Auburn Undercover, Battie will visit Colorado in the upcoming days and will make his decision on Jan. 15.

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Offense by the numbers: Top Tigers by snap count

Who saw the field the most for Auburn on offense in 2022?

The 2022 season did not end the way that the Auburn Tigers had hoped, as they finished with a 5-7 record and had to finish the final four games without their head coach, [autotag]Bryan Harsin[/autotag].

Despite the disappointing end to the season, Auburn closed the schedule by going 2-2 under interim head coach [autotag]Cadillac Williams[/autotag]. After the season, Auburn received good news as he would be retained on [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag]’s staff.

As the offseason begins, it is time to take a look back at Auburn’s season, beginning on offense. The first aspect of Auburn’s season that will be examined is snap counts.

According to Pro Football Focus, Auburn ran 826 total offensive plays during the 2022 season. Out of those 826 snaps, only one player took over 800 snaps on the season, one saw at least 700 snaps, and two more saw the field for over 600 plays.

Who saw the most playing time for Auburn on the offensive side of the ball this season? Here’s the data according to Pro Football Focus.

Bryan Harsin takes the top spot of an undesirable year-end list

Harsin’s tenure ended at Auburn before the end of the 2022 season. How did On3 view his season?

It is no secret that the end of [autotag]Bryan Harsin[/autotag]’s Auburn tenure — the whole era for that matter — will forever be a dark chapter in the history of Auburn football.

He began his Auburn career as the “out of left field” hire. He was not the most popular name of the search, as he came to The Plains from Boise State with minimal experience coaching football in the south. In his first season, the Tigers began 6-2 with a win over a top-10 Ole Miss team. However, following that game on Halloween weekend, the season took an ugly turn. Auburn lost its final five games.

During the offseason, he was the target of a coup attempt. Though he survived, the issues within the program remained. In Year 2, Auburn lost to Penn State at home in blowout fashion and had lengthy winning streaks against Arkansas and Ole Miss end.

In addition to the on-field product, Auburn fell behind in recruiting.

Harsin was dismissed on Halloween, two days after Auburn’s 41-27 loss to Arkansas at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

His time in Auburn was anything but pretty, which is why he takes the top spot of an undesirable year-end list.

On3 recently released its assessments of second-year coaches, from worst to first. Several coaches received a good grade, including Tennessee‘s Josh Heupel and Kansas’ Lance Leipold. Harsin kicked off the rankings by having the worst performance of any second-year coach.

Jesse Simonton of On3 sympathized with Harsin, but also wrote Auburn was more motivated to play following his departure.

For more than a year, Auburn essentially treated Bryan Harsin like the kid in “Toy Story” who tortures Woody with a magnifying glass. It was wholly unfair to Harsin.

But setting aside all the ugly and unfounded rumors surrounding Harsin and his family, the former Boise State head coach did an awful job at one of the premiere programs in the country.

Harsin lost five straight games to end a disappointing Year 1, and things only got worse this fall. After a pair of victories over cupcakes — including a way-too-close for comfort 24-16 win against San Jose State — the Tigers lost 6-of-7, with their lone win a Yakety Sax overtime victory against Missouri.

Harsin was poor recruiter (Auburn wasted a historic set of prospects from the state of Alabama in 2022), motivator and leader. It said a lot that the second he was gone, the Tigers suddenly started playing inspired and united.

Harsin’s Auburn career ended 9-12. After his dismissal, interim head coach [autotag]Cadillac Williams[/autotag] led Auburn to a 2-2 record, which ended its season 5-7.

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New hires to Hugh Freeze’s staff become official

Here’s a rundown of the hires that Hugh Freeze has made, and what their role will be within the staff.

Being a newly-hired head coach during this day and time has become challenging.

Not only do you have to construct a new staff, but you must do that while maintaining and improving your recruiting class before the beginning of the early signing period.

Auburn’s [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag] has done a great job juggling both tasks. He recently signed the nation’s No. 19 recruiting class, which is a vast improvement from before his hire. He has also put together a respectable staff that is sure to go a long way in rebuilding the program to become one of the best in the SEC.

Freeze’s staff is headlined by [autotag]Philip Montgomery[/autotag], who will serve as offensive coordinator. Montgomery is best known for being the mastermind behind Baylor’s high-powered offenses during the early 2010s and for being the college offensive coordinator for quarterbacks Case Keenum and Robert Griffin III.

Other key hires are [autotag]Cadillac Williams[/autotag] and [autotag]Zac Etheridge[/autotag], who are retained from the previous staff. Williams served as interim head coach following the dismissal of [autotag]Bryan Harsin[/autotag], and led the Tigers to a 2-2 record to close out the season. Freeze says that one of his first priorities when landing the Auburn job was to keep Williams on staff.

“I had already done my homework on people that we had in common, friends, I knew that my first priority was “I have to have Cadillac on my side to help me drive the culture of Auburn Football,” Freeze said during his introductory press conference in November.

Williams will serve as the running backs coach and associate head coach. As for Etheridge, he will coach the secondary alongside [autotag]Wesley McGriff[/autotag], who comes to Auburn for his third stint. Those three have been vital in recruiting and will go a long way in building sustained success for the program.

Joining Etheridge and McGriff defensively will be [autotag]Ron Roberts[/autotag] as defensive coordinator, [autotag]Jeremy Garrett[/autotag] as the defensive line coach, and [autotag]Josh Aldridge[/autotag] will coach linebackers.

Freeze has also hired two offensive assistants in addition to Williams and Montgomery. Jake Thronton comes to Auburn from Ole Miss, where he will coach the offensive line. Freeze also brings tight ends coach Ben Aigamaua from Liberty to Auburn.

Two other names that have been linked to Auburn are [autotag]Dominic Studzinski[/autotag] and [autotag]Kent Austin[/autotag]. Freeze shares an update on their roles within the staff:

“Strength and conditioning Dominic Studzinski and Kent Austin is our chief quality control of the program that overseas if we say we’re gonna do something a certain way let’s do it that way,” Freeze said. “So I’m excited about our staff and we’ll be bringing in the rest of the off-the-field support staff along with the wide receiver coach at the beginning of the new year.”

The only position group that does not have a coach to this point is wide receivers, which Freeze says will be taken care of soon. Freeze blames recruiting for the lack of a receiver coach hire, but I think that we will let that slide.

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Zac Etheridge among top recruiters for 2023 cycle

Auburn signed 18 high school prospects during its’ early signing period window on Wednesday. Etheridge had a hand in at least half of those.

Outside of his amazing recruiting efforts in a short amount of time, Hugh Freeze has made two great decisions since being named Auburn’s head football coach on Nov. 28… retaining both [autotag]Cadillac Williams[/autotag] and [autotag]Zac Etheridge[/autotag] from the previous staff.

Both Williams and Etheridge have developed key relationships with high school recruits, which was instrumental in keeping the 2023 class together for the most part, and even helped in flipping talent who had previously committed elsewhere. Because of this, the latter is deemed one of the best recruiters in the country.

Auburn managed to sway several players away from other programs such as four-star EDGE [autotag]Keldric Faulk[/autotag] (Florida State), four-star safety [autotag]Sylvester Smith[/autotag] (Tennessee), and four-star cornerback [autotag]Kayin Lee[/autotag] (Ohio State) thanks to the efforts of Etheridge. Once the dust settled from the opening day of the early signing period on Wednesday, Etheridge found himself ranked No. 12 among the top recruiters for the 2023 cycle according to 247Sports.

Out of Auburn’s 18 high school signees, Etheridge had a hand in eight of them. He also was the primary recruiter of four-star running back [autotag]Jeremiah Cobb[/autotag], who will sign with Auburn in February. His efforts played a part in Auburn signing the No. 20 recruiting class according to 247Sports.

Etheridge joins the likes of Alabama assistants Freddie Roach and Robert Gillespie, Ohio State’s Brian Hartline, and Clemson‘s Nick Eason as assistant coaches who rank in the top 15 of college football’s best recruiters.

Here’s a look at the 2023 signees that were recruited by Zac Etheridge.

Auburn Football reels in top 20 class during early signing period

A program scraping the bottom of the SEC barrel just one month ago now sports a top-20 class.

One of the biggest surprises of the early signing period’s first day was the Auburn Tigers.

A program scraping the bottom of the SEC barrel just one month ago now sports a top-20 class thanks to the efforts of [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag], [autotag]Cadillac Williams[/autotag], [autotag]Zac Etheridge[/autotag], and the new-look staff that has been constructed over the last three weeks.

Auburn nailed down several of their most loyal commits on Wednesday, including OL [autotag]Bradyn Joiner[/autotag] and CB [autotag]J.C. Hart[/autotag]. The Tigers also received a couple of surprises in the form of CB [autotag]Kayin Lee[/autotag] and EDGE [autotag]Keldric Faulk[/autotag], who flipped from Ohio State and Florida State on signing day respectively.

After the dust settled, Freeze said that he felt recruiting was “considerably behind” Auburn’s standard, and called the last two weeks of recruiting “wild.”

“It’s been a remarkable job by our on-the-field coaches who were actively out getting after it, but also the people who serve this program here in the building and made the families that came on the visits feel like there’s something special occurring here.I thought we really did well with the DB room and made some dents in our needs in the offensive line room. Edge guys I thought we did really well with on defense; we still have some work to do on the interior and on O-line. We’re really not through anywhere. We still have some big targets out there that hopefully we can close on now or in January.”

Out of the 18 signees that Auburn secured on Wednesday, seven of those are rated as four stars according to 247Sports, ranking them 20th overall according to the outlet’s recruiting rankings. Auburn’s signing class impressed the experts at On3, as they have the Tigers ranked No. 16 overall.

The early signing period continues through Friday, with national signing day taking place on Feb. 1, 2023.

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