When college football fans think of Auburn, what comes to mind? It has to be the Tigers’ history of stellar running back play, right?
There have been five running backs in Auburn’s history to rush for over 3,000 yards in their careers, and there are 19 who rushed for 2,000 yards or more. Some of the best-known athletes in Auburn’s history were running backs, with the most popular being 1985 Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson and Carnell “Cadillac” Williams.
[autotag]Kerryon Johnson[/autotag] and [autotag]Tank Bigsby[/autotag] are the most recent players to join the running back fraternity at Auburn, while older Auburn fans are sure to include the likes of [autotag]Lionel James[/autotag], [autotag]Joe Cribbs[/autotag], and [autotag]James Bostic[/autotag] to their list of favorite Auburn players.
There’s zero doubt that Auburn knows how to construct elite running backs, but where do they rank among the nation’s best RB producers? ESPN weighs in.
ESPN updated their “Position U” rankings recently, which includes the top 10 running back-producing programs. Auburn found its way on the list at No. 8.
On3’s Kaiden Smith shared his opinion on the list and says that ESPN got it right by including Auburn due to their history of stellar running backs.
Tank Bigsby is the newest addition to the Auburn/NFL running back family, selected with the No. 88 overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft. Bigsby is the only Auburn Tiger rusher currently in the league from Auburn, but historically he’s definitely not alone.
Between 2009-2017 the Tigers had an impressive nine year run where they always had a 1,000-yard rusher. From Tre Mason to Kerryon Johnson and everyone in between, there’s no doubt the Auburn running back lineage is strong, dating back well before the mentioned names above.
The Tigers beat out Oklahoma State and Oregon on ESPN’s list, and trails Georgia, Oklahoma, Texas, Miami, LSU, and Wisconsin, with archrival Alabama being dubbed “running back U.”
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