Sports Tab 2022

EDITORIAL

Auburn University Athletics is ‘On To Victory’

By EDITORIAL BOARD Fall 2022

In July this year, a collective, “On To Victory,” was launched to provide Auburn University student-athletes with the opportunity to profit off their name, image and likeness.

On To Victory bought out Auburn’s previous leading collective, NIL-Auburn, and the key differences between the two might just change Auburn Athletics for the better.

On To Victory’s distinction is that the leadership that created it has declared that 90% of the collective’s proceeds will go directly to Auburn student-athletes.

The On To Victory pledge specifically states that “the members of the executive board have pledged to never take a profit from their work with On To Victory.”

On To Victory also promises transparency in the collective’s finances and activities.

It will implement administrative cost controls to ensure maximum benefits for student-athletes.

In order to adhere to National College Athletics Association Name, Image and Likeness rules and guide-

lines, the collective will conduct its business independent from the University.

They will do this by pooling funds from Auburn boosters and businesses along with Auburn fans and local citizens.

What this collective will do is decrease the number of bootleg merchandise sold, as fans will now—for the first time ever—be able to buy specific, individualized jerseys without breaking rules and laws.

It will help level the playing field for all Auburn athletes by providing walk-ons, graduate students, transfers and athletes in less recognized sports the chance to make revenue.

It will give athletes in sports without a professional level the opportunity to profit at the collegiate level.

Not only will these athletes be able to make revenue, but they will also have the chance to be counseled while doing so—an opportunity made possible by On To Victory’s advisory committee of former athletes representing all levels of sport.

This will be especially beneficial to female athletes— as they rarely get as much recognition as male athletes— regardless of their sport. The On To Victory collective

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represents progress for gender equity in sports, and it gives Auburn women in all sports opportunities they have always deserved.

“For Auburn to remain competitive on the fields and courts of play, we need to compete—and win—in the NIL arena. We will continue to adapt and be aggressive as we forge into year two... It is going to take all of us working together to make this a success. After all, that is the Auburn way,” said former Auburn University Athletic Director Allen Green in a one-year update video released in late July.

Green was right. In order for Auburn athletics to continue to better serve its athletes, it is crucial that the Auburn family remains involved, informed and excited.

It is crucial that the Auburn family understands the importance of name, image and likeness and a collective that all Auburn athletes can take advantage of.

It is crucial that the Auburn family understands that the On To Victory collective does something that should have been done a long time ago: take name, image and likeness to the next level to acknowledge, celebrate and expand opportunities to the overlooked and underserved athletes.

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LARRY ROBINSON | PHOTO EDITOR

For local businesses, game days just mean more

By DANIEL SCHMIDT Assistant News Editor

There’s nothing quite like a college football Saturday in the Loveliest Village on the Plains: the mass of fans clad in burnt orange and navy, the eagle’s pre-game swoop around Jordan-Hare Stadium, the gathering of friends and family under a tailgate tent.

However, for businesses around Auburn and their employees, game days mean something a little different.

Whenever the Tigers play at home, that swell of supporters helps generate profits that, in some cases, carry local eateries, bars and hotels through the fiscal year.

Big Blue Bagel is no exception. When the autumn sun rises over the local breakfast joint located in the heart of downtown Auburn, the pregame rush is in full swing.

“If it’s an earlier game, like 11 a.m. or 2:30 p.m. [kickoff], it’s usually immediately straight from opening the door, it’s line-to-the-door busy,” said Jacob Stanley, manager of Big Blue Bagel. “If it’s an afternoon or evening game, it’s still pretty busy in the morning.”

According to Stanley, that game day crowd helps make up for other times in the year that are not as lucrative.

“It is really important because it does help us out in the

long run, it kind of makes up for how slow things get during the summer months,” he said. “It helps us recuperate not really losses but not really as busy days. It’s not a make or break thing but it does help with the bottom line.”

Down South Gay Street, a similar story can be found at The Collegiate, an independent boutique hotel, first built in the early 1940s and serving as the only private dorm for women attending Auburn University at the time.

Known primarily for its rooftop bar overlooking the university’s east entrance, the extra occupancy around important home games helps the hotel make ends meet.

“While a business cannot survive in Auburn from just football game day revenue, we do see a significant uptick in sales and occupancy on home football game weekends from the sheer number of people in town,” said Kim Wirth, owner of The Collegiate.

As with the Big Blue Bagel, Wirth believes that while gameday revenue is important to the bottom line of her business model, much more goes into running a successful business on The Plains.

“Football is an important seven or eight weekends in the year, but we still have to work our plan for the remaining 44 weeks of the year to be successful,” Wirth said.

While home game weekends certainly help the owners and managers of local businesses, they are not the only beneficiaries of a sizeable influx of customers.

For student employees like Hope Guffey, bartender and self-described “bar mom” at 17-16, the tips service workers receive on such weekends help make ends meet and supplement their $2.50 per hour wage.

“[Tips] mean the world. Often times people base them on the service, and we are, you know, in the service industry, so we try to always make the experience fun for people,” Guffey said. “It means the world to us when we get someone who tipped more than the standard dollar, or 20%, whatever that might look like for them.”

According to Guffey, the best weekends are when big opponents come to town.

“When we have the older crowd in there, the people who are coming back to Auburn at their alma mater or people from out of state or from a different location who are there to support the opposing team, they tend to tip pretty well,” she said.

As toilet paper flies through the air at Toomer’s Corner, signifying another Auburn victory, it also serves as a reminder that game days mean something a little extra to those too occupied to attend the game.

FILE PHOTOAuburn fans gather at Toomer’s Corner to celebrate another Tiger victory.

What is NIL, and how does it impact Auburn?

B y B RI J OHNSON N ews W riter

NIL, an acronym for name, image and likeness, provides college athletes with the opportunity to make money from their names as pro players do. In the years prior to NIL being adopted, the NCAA had enforced amateurism.

For decades, athletes had participated in their respective sports on an unpaid basis rather than a paid professional one.

This meant that players were not getting paid for playing their sport before going professional.

The only funding student-athletes could receive was scholarships while college football was quickly becoming a multi-billion dollar industry.

Today, NIL is an opportunity for student-athletes to learn more about personal finances as well as make investments or donations to charities.

With only 5% of players going pro, NIL also helps the players that do not play professionally have some financial security upon graduating college.

Auburn enforces a policy called SPIRIT. This policy monitors activities regarding student-athletes pursuing compensation for their NIL.

According to auburntigers.com, “Auburn Athletics is

committed to supporting its student-athletes in their NIL activities while preserving Auburn’s relationships with its valued partners and ensuring compliance with NCAA requirements.”

NIL means that college athletes can accept endorsements, make appearances, post social media endorsements, host camps and give lessons.

Essentially, they can now participate in the same money-making activities that professional players can. This means that they can appear on TV commercials, on drink or food packaging, get paid to teach younger athletes the basics of their sport and make money off paid sponsorships on social media.

Currently, sponsors of the Auburn Athletic Department include Verizon, Under Armour, Truckworx, Stubhub, Great Southern Wood, Golden Flake Snacks and UTZ Chips, Gatorade, various food trucks, Cook’s Pest Control, Conecuh Sausage, Coca-Cola, ChickFil-A and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices.

NIL has many benefits for student-athletes, but compensation for NIL rights may affect Auburn athletes’ scholarships.

With athletes making money from NIL, there is a question of if they need scholarships if they are making money on their own.

This is a question that is still up in the air.

Auburn football’s deals are double the national aver-

age.

According to SI.com, the national average for NIL payments for a college football player is about $3,400 a month.

In comparison, Auburn athletes’ average NIL deal value is estimated to be $7,400 a month.

Madie Champion | Graphics Artist Sen. Tomy Tuberville is working on a bill that would stabilize the college NIL landscape.

Tuberville in early stages of writing NIL legislation

By TUCKER MASSEY News Editor

Sens. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., are in the early phases of drafting a bill that would seek to stabilize the collegiate NIL deal landscape.

At this stage, Tuberville said those involved were simply weighing the options on how to handle college-level NIL deals.

They aim to create a top-to-bottom outline of the bill, which Tuberville intends to keep brief once written.

Tuberville said that if what they put together during the initial drafting is unappealing, he will not advance the bill through the legislative process.

“I think we can help,” Tuberville said. “But at the end of the day, if we get all the information and put something together and I don’t think it’s good, we won’t do it.”

In August, members of Tuberville’s team sent letters asking for opinions from colleges on how NIL deals had progressed since being permitted in July 2021.

They intended for their responses to help guide where they may take the bill, as Tuberville noted that he did not want NIL deals eliminated in full, but simply regulated.

His team received numerous responses to their letter. Tuberville said they received feedback about these deals from every conference, and he will continue to engage athletic departments throughout the country.

Setting nationwide limitations and rules for NIL deals has been the initial focus for Tuberville’s team.

He also said that coaches deserve to have more input about how their teams handle NIL deals.

“We want to make sure that the coaches are the ones that handle anything that happens with their athletes once they get on campus,” Tuberville said.

Tuberville also mentioned that they have come across several issues already, chiefly deciding how to rein in a highly lucrative market in a way that can appeal to legislators across the nation.

“We’ve got two issues here: the NIL money, which the cat’s out of the bag on that one, we’re not going to draw any of that back,” Tuberville said. “And there’s no parameters. The NCAA is going to wash their hands of it, and they’ve let this thing get out of hand.”

While Tuberville wants a bill to set parameters on NIL deals and puts student-athletes first, he expressed concern about allowing everyone to have a voice and create effective legislation.

With several states across the country already having their own NIL-related legislation, Tuberville thought such discrepancies would pose a challenge to finding areas of agreement across the board.

“You’ve got states all over the country doing things because of state laws that some other states can’t do because their laws are different,” Tuberville said. “We want to make sure when we finish this that every state has a definition of what they can do and a timeline.”

He acknowledged that this bill would likely not receive unanimous support, but he said that he wanted the prospective bill to be something that most people would find reasonable and could support.

“If we can get something that we think can really work and help with the problems they’re having now, it may not go as far as people want, but that’s not our problem,” Tuberville said. “Our problem is to make sure all 50 states are doing the same thing so that everybody has an equal, level playing field.”

Tuberville wants to have a bill written up and sent through the proper channels to stabilize what most would describe as an increasingly volatile market. With Manchin working across the political aisle, Tuberville hopes to pass a bill that Americans across the political spectrum can agree with.

“I think most people up here understand that college sports are what our whole country has been proud of for a very long time,” Tuberville said. “It involves a lot of people, and hopefully there will be a lot of interest in this.”

Tiger Trail Walk of Fame honors former athletes, staff

By AMANDA DAVIDSON Sports Writer

For over a century, Auburn Athletics has been remem bered for its historical moments and the coaching behind them.

In addition to the memorable wins and plays, athletes and staff members are honored for their achievements through the Tiger Trail in downtown Auburn, where granite diamonds take over the sidewalks.

Every year, roughly six athletes or staff members are granted a diamond remembering their sport or position and the years they dedicated to it, similar to the Holly wood Walk of Fame.

To get a diamond, one must simply be nominated.

After this, an anonymous committee evaluates the candidates.

The public criteria are that nominees were an athlete, athletic staff or administrator and that it has been at least five years since they were at Auburn.

Athletes like Jabari Smith or Casey Mize, having only played one season, would still be eligible.

“They range from things like national championships or SEC titles, or you know, all-American titles and that sort of thing. I can’t remember the administrative criteria, but you know, obviously, they’re different,” said Anna Hovey, president and CEO of Auburn Chamber of Commerce. “It’s a

lot. It’s a three-page document.”

The goal for the classes is to represent every sport or po

from sport to sport, and they want to have diversity in the in ductee class,” Hovey said.

Once the committee makes a selection, they notify the athlete or staff members and ask if they will sign off, al lowing the city to add their diamonds.

If they agree, a ceremony will be held and the place ment of the diamond is selected.

The ceremony for the diamonds takes place on A-Day weekend and costs $25 per person to attend.

During the ceremony, recipients draw a random coor dinate where their diamond will go.

The plaque is not installed that day since the location has just been selected.

It is not until weeks later that they are installed.

“We are going to try to incorporate a way to just make people more aware of the plaques when they’re actual ly installed,” Hovey said. “We think that there’s opportu nity for us to maybe do some sort of event where people can actually walk the trail and see where the plaques are.”

Moving forward, the city plans to keep the Tiger Trail solely for Auburn Athletics as originally intended.

Since 1995, the Trail has been a part of Auburn Uni versity Athletics and it remains a high honor.

sition while including various races, genders and ages in the class. “They’re very mindful of spreading out recognition

The attraction brings engagement to the communi ty and creates connections between fans and the athletic staff, bringing the Auburn Family closer while honoring the University’s history.

Gymnastics prepping after program-best 2022

By CALLIE STANFORD Sports Editor

Auburn gymnastics is preparing for a 2023 season that will build on its record-breaking 2022, a season full of perfect scores and program records.

While the 2023 schedule has not been fully released, the slate of home meets has been scheduled and announced to the public.

The Tigers were dominant in the 2022 season, with five gymnasts combining for 15 All-America honors, a program record. Of those awards, 11 were earned by the freshman class.

The team competed in the Final Four for the first time in program history, scoring a 197.350 to place fourth at the meet. Prior to the 2022 season, the Tigers were predicted to finish as No. 14 in the nation, but wildly surpassed that to reach the national championship meet.

12/16/22 Preview meet: 7 p.m.

First will be a preview meet, essentially a scrimmage to get the team onto the equipment and in front of a crowd. That meet will be free to the public and open to anyone.

1/20/23 vs Arkansas: Time TBA

This series between the Tigers and Razorbacks is tied at 9-9 all-time. Last March, Auburn won 197.225-196.450 to extend its current win streak over Arkansas to three.

The Razorbacks finished 6-9 in 2022, going 0-7 in their SEC meets. At the SEC Champi onships, Arkansas finished sixth of eight teams. Advancing to the NCAA Regional and ulti mately the Sweet 16, finishing fourth of the four teams at the meet.

1/27/23 vs North Carolina State: Time TBA

Auburn has just one matchup against the Wolfpack, a 2007 victory of 194.375-192.075. This will be a non-conference meet that allows the Tigers to grow their experience outside of the SEC.

North Carolina State finished its 2022 season at 16-10, 3-4 in its Atlantic Coach Confer ence meets. The Wolfpack advanced to the second round of NCAA Regionals, along with LSU and Missouri of the SEC.

2/10/23 vs LSU: Time TBA

The Bayou Bengals are a team Auburn has historically struggled against. LSU holds an 11-5 lead when the two teams face off, but Auburn was able to win 197.225-196.725 last March.

LSU finished its 2022 season at 9-3, 4-3 in the SEC and placing fifth at the SEC Champi onships. Advancing to the NCAA Championships, LSU finished third in the four-team meet.

2/24/23 vs Georgia: Time TBA

The gymnastics version of the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry is a close one. Georgia leads 10-9 historically, but Auburn is making a run in recent meets. The Tigers are on a win streak of five, most recently defeating the Bulldogs 197.500-195.725 in late March of last year.

The Bulldogs finished at 4-10, struggling to a 1-6 SEC record. Georgia finished fourth in the afternoon session of the SEC Championship meet with a 195.800 score at the end of the day. The Bulldogs advanced to the NCAA Regional in Auburn, but were eliminated in the second round after finishing last among the four teams.

3/10/23 vs Penn State: Time TBA

This meet is also a non-conference proving ground for the Tigers. Auburn has faced off against the Nittany Lions just once, a 194.375-193.500 victory in Happy Valley. Penn State had an up and down 2022 season, ending with a tenth place finish at the Big Ten Champi onships.

LARRY ROBINSON | PHOTO EDITOR

The trail honors Auburn University athletes, coaches and administrators.

How sports psychologists help student-athletes

By CAITLYN GRIFFIN Sports Writer

Mental health plays a crucial role in an athlete’s perfor mance, but who helps that student-athlete reach their full potential on and off the field or court?

When sports psychologists at Auburn determine whether or not an athlete is mentally ready, the stu dent-athlete falls along a spectrum rather than being con sidered healthy versus unhealthy.

This spectrum contains the colors: red, yellow and green.

If an athlete is green, they are considered thriving and ready to go. They may stop by the sports psychologist of fice to receive guidance on how to maintain their men tal health.

Someone who is yellow may be experiencing more stress than green. This person may stop by the office to pinpoint what they are struggling with and how to re turn to normal.

If an athlete’s mental health state is considered red, this person may be struggling to balance academics, athletics and maintaining a social life.

In all of these scenarios, a sports psychologist is respon sible for helping student-athletes cope with the demand ing environment of collegiate sports.

“Overall, looking at my job is to take a holistic approach to a student-athlete’s wellbeing and help them figure out how to best thrive in all areas of their functioning here at Auburn,” said Sport Psychologist Joanna Foss, who has been working at Auburn since 2020. Due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, this fall has been the first “nor mal” one she has experienced since her hiring.

There are two sides to Foss’s job with Auburn’s stu dent-athletes.

“The clinical, mental health counseling side — that’s the licensed psychologist piece of me that allows me to work with people who are experiencing clinical mental health symptoms,” Foss said. “And then the sport performance side focuses on, you know, how does this really show up and impact you in an athletics context, and how can we help take you where you’re at to get a little bit better.”

The University provides student-athletes with individ ual and team therapies.

Other than talk therapy, sports psychologists teach athletes basic psychotherapy, such as pre-competition routines, including breathing techniques.

Foss and Doug Hankes, the executive director of sport psychology and mental health counseling, often spend more time outside the office going to practices and games to observe the athlete’s performance in those environ ments.

Along with sports psychologists, AuburnYOU is an or ganization that seeks to enrich the student-athlete experi ence. They are responsible for hosting events and provid

ing resources that include personal enhancement, lead ership development, social responsibility and profession al development.

As a student-athlete, there are unique stressors with

When sports psychologists at Auburn determine whether or not an athlete is mentally ready, the student athlete falls along a spectrum rath er than being considered healthy vs. unhealthy.

If an athlete’s mental health state is considered red, this person may be struggling to balance academics, ath letics and maintaining a social life

Someone who is yellow may be expe riencing more stress than green. This person may stop by the office to pin point what they are struggling with

If an athlete is green, they are consid ered thriving and ready to go. They may stop by the sports psychologist office to receive guidance on how to maintain their mental health

in collegiate sports.

Hankes, who has been a sports psychologist for over 29 years and has been at Auburn aiding student-athletes for the past 25 years, emphasized that that the environment that student-athletes are in can be demanding. Coaches never let athletes get comfortable, and they’re always un der the watchful eyes of fans.

From the time they step onto the field or court, these student-athletes are expected to meet the ever-changing expectations of fans and coaches alike.

Hankes also mentioned that most athletes struggle with the additional dedication of time to their respected sport and the dedication required to academics.

Earlier this year, Karen Hoppa, head coach of the wom en’s soccer team, emphasized the need for mental health awareness regarding the pressure the 18 to 22-year-old student-athletes endure on and off the field.

“Figuring out how to navigate just a lot of those con flicting demands, as a human, as an athlete, as a perform er, all of those things are really important to have a space to explore all of that,” Foss said.

Auburn student-athlete mental health services have only existed for five to six years, but have been in the making for over 15 years. Hankes has been an advocate for the student-athletic mental services department.

To this day, the athletic psychological services depart ment is growing, with Jack Howard joining the roster.

“So the really nice part about our department, given our training across the spectrum, is that we’re able to help meet people wherever they’re at and take them where they want to go,” Foss said.

However, stigma surrounding mental health still plays a prominent role in sports, but Hankes noted that several changes have been made, so the University is making the necessary steps to shift the view on mental health.

He also adds that student-athletes are more open to re ceiving help because of the vocalization of professional athletes and former Auburn student-athletes.

Hankes commented on Auburn’s participation along with 115+ other universities in the College Football Men tal Health Week, on Oct. 1-10, held by the Hilinski’s Hope Foundation.

This foundation’s mission is to “save lives, elimi nate stigma and scale mental wellness programs for stu dent-athletes” by sharing Tyler Hilinski’s story and con necting students with mental health resources.

“While conversations around mental illness can be tough and at times uncomfortable, it is absolutely critical for the wellbeing of our student-athletes,” said Kym Hil inski, one of the founders of H3H.

Hankes appraised the foundations’ success in breaking down the stigma of mental health in sports, and said that Auburn is currently expanding its reach into other sports, such as cross country, volleyball and soccer. ww

Meet the sports psychologists

SportPsychologist

Foss is a certiified Mental Per formance Consultant that takes a holisitic approach to student-ath lete mental health. Fosse enjoys playing volletball, hiking, baking and reading.

Doug Hankes, P.h.D.

ExecutiveDirectorofSport PscychologyandMentalHealth Counseling

Hankes is a licensed psychologist with 25 years of leadership in sports and exercise psychology.

Joanna Foss, P.h.D

How Janie Little became known as Granny Tiger

By CALLIE STANFORD Sports Editor

The title Granny Tiger didn’t come from just anywhere. In fact, Janie Little has been attending Auburn games for much longer than she’s been known by the nickname.

It all began in 2020, pre-pandemic, at a February game against LSU. Auburn was hosting the Bayou Bengals and the game was anything but boring.

In what was ultimately a 91-90 win for the home Tigers, then-freshman Devan Cambridge starred. In 29 minutes, he scored 21 points and went 7-for-10 from the three. That night, Granny Tiger was born.

Former Auburn Athletics photographer Shanna Lock wood was positioned in a way to create a star. She photo graphed Cambridge in front of Auburn’s student section The Jungle. Hot off jumping to hit a three, Cambridge seems to be levitating. His tongue is stuck out. He lofts a three up with his right hand.

The image is a chaotic sea of orange and blue, showcasing a broad scope of students behind the shooter. Shakers and

arms are flying in the air. It oozes the energy of the game.

There are two focal points of the photo: Cambridge, in his stark all-white uniform, but then a small woman stand ing just to his side. Maybe two steps away, one to his right and one back, is Janie Little. In a long-sleeved orange button down and centered directly in Lockwood’s viewfinder, she seems to be the focus of the image.

“We’d go ahead, then LSU would go ahead. We’d go ahead. I don’t know how many times it went back and forth,” Lit tle said. “It just happened that the young lady got the pic ture of it.”

Little’s mouth is open in a yell, with both arms up and her phone clutched tight in the arm above her head. Her navy phone case has an Auburn logo on it, because of course it does. She seems to be more excited about the shot than Cam bridge.

Off to a dinner following the game for her godson Will Sahlie and his now wife Katie, Little noticed some glances from the young crowd that night. Eventually, he was pres sured into coming over to explain what was going on.

Lockwood’s picture was blowing up on social media and

Little was becoming a sensation. Without an Instagram or Twitter account to look at, she had no idea until someone pulled up the photo on their phone.

“[They] said, ‘You’re not going to believe this, but this picture has been on ESPN and the SEC Network.’ And they showed me the picture and I said, ‘No it’s not’,” Little said. “I didn’t know what Twitter or Instagram was.”

The solution that night was to make an Instagram ac count, but to do that, there had to be a username. Every one brainstormed some ideas, but “Granny Tiger” was the one they settled on. To this day, Little’s account maintains that username.

“They threw out, I think ‘Jungle Grandma’ and ‘Granny Tiger’ and I’ve forgotten all the others,” Little said. “They set up the Instagram that night and…I immediately started get ting things. It was really funny.”

Little’s time at Auburn, though, started long before Devan Cambridge was splashing threes to win SEC games.

Little was unable to attend Auburn University as a student in favor of staying home to care for her parents, but that was not stopping her developing connection to the school.

CONTRIBUTED BY AUBURN ATHLETICS/SHANNA LOCKWOOD Devan Cambridge shoots a basket during Auburn men’s basketball’s 2020 game agaisnt LSU, Janie Little (center) cheers on the Tigers.

Living in Montgomery, just east of Auburn, Little was close enough to attend sporting events as she grew up.

“I could go to all the games, starting when I was in high school,” Little said. “I had a cous in that played a year of football for Auburn…for Shug [Jordan]…I’ve just always been an Au burn fan for as long as I can remember.”

She can list the coaches she watched in her time at Auburn, finding a love for basket ball when the program was under head coach Sonny Smith. She has been around for Smith, Tommy Joe Eagles, Cliff Ellis, Jeff Lebo and Tony Barbee, but Smith’s style of coaching was what pulled her into the team.

Little’s love for Auburn manifested in her relationship with the player who made her fa mous in the first place. Cambridge had two more years at Auburn following the 2020 game that connected him with Little and in that time, they formed a bond unlike any other.

“Later, after the picture, he comes over and he says ‘Hey, Granny Tiger.’ Well, what can you say? So I just hugged him,” Little said. “I just loved watching him play. He just got to where he would come over there every game and he would have to hold my hand…If I went to tournaments, he’d always see me and he’d come up and hug me.”

Cambridge announced in March 2022 that he intended to transfer from Auburn. Ulti mately landing at Arizona State alongside brother Desmond, Devan has not lost his friend ship with the woman who may be one of his biggest fans.

“We still communicate,” Little said. “I’m going to watch him this year. I hope he gets to play, and I know he wanted to be with his brother, but I really miss him.”

With Cambridge being states away, Little misses his presence but has a hope that a cur rent Auburn player will find her in this upcoming season and share the friendship she has had in the past two years.

“I guess somebody else is going to have to adopt me. It really blessed me when he would come over every game,” Little said. “It really did, that he would take the time to come over there.”

Sticking with basketball through that many head coaches, Little has found her same ini tial love of the game in Bruce Pearl. His coaching style, attitude, values and approach have won her over long-term.

“We’ve just got a treasure in him. I just hope he stays healthy and wants to coach until he’s 94. He passes that on to the team,” Little said. “That’s what I’ve enjoyed watching with the players: they play as a team.”

A regular attendee of many different sporting events at Auburn, Little can see and feel the impact Pearl is having beyond the basketball court. She believes it says a lot about the team’s culture that they are seen supporting their peers off the court.

“You go and at every sport, you’ll see some, if not all, of them,” Little said. “I’ve never real ly noticed that before. Other sports would go to football. That was the thing…but not a lot of the other players would go to girls’ softball or girls’ basketball.”

Pearl is often seen on social media and video boards at games, promoting either Auburn Athletics events or health-related causes like organ donation and cancer screenings. Little sees great value in a coach who promotes his school, not just his team.

“He is such a motivator and just the best PR person that we could have,” Little said. “But what I like, too, is that if you watch him…he promotes Auburn all the time, but he promotes not just outside, but within. He goes to all the other games.”

She also says the students are near to her heart. Sitting courtside and facing the Auburn bench, Little is directly in front of The Jungle, notorious for being rowdy and disruptive when opposing teams come to town.

She respects them for their intensity and holds an affection for the students like any grand mother would for her own grandchildren. The nickname makes sense with the way Little speaks about the student section.

“I just love those kids and love their enthusiasm and how they come into games and get in line so early,” Little said. “There’s just a magnetism about Auburn but then the realness. It’s real people, real fans. It’s really something else.”

CONTRIBUTED BY JANIE LITTLE

Little pictured with several Auburn students in The Jungle.

CONTRIBUTED BY JANIE LITTLE

Little pictured with Zep Jasper after defeating South Carolina to win the SEC outright.

COLUMN | Is the Auburn family chronically online?

By SAMI GRACE DONNELLY Columnist

It’s what keeps people coming back. It’s the reason for the awe-inspiring wins and gut-wrenching losses. It carries on legends, traditions and culture. It represents so much and extends so far. It is the Auburn family.

The Auburn family is not just a saying. It can be felt on game days, within traditions and in every off-campus “War Eagle.” However, there is a disparity between the face-toface Auburn family and their online presence.

This can be traced to Auburn’s Twitter mob — the online fanbase that replies to the losing team’s score post with hundreds, even thousands of memes. It originated during the frenzy of the 2021-2022 men’s basketball season that ended with a regular season SEC championship title.

While it conveys school spirit, the Auburn family’s online presence can start to have symptoms of being “chronically online,” especially when it is being negative.

“Chronically online” is an emerging term in social media culture. Urban Dictionary defines it as “someone who is so absorbed into online life and discourse that they become unfamiliar with things off the internet. They may also form opinions and arguments that have no meaning, actual importance or depth outside of the internet and online spaces.”

Being labeled as “chronically online” suggests that an individual is overly-argumentative, has unrealistic expectations and lacks understanding about how the world real-

ly works.

Auburn’s self-critical comments, raging speculations and venting of disappointment and frustration can quickly slip into a pattern of being “chronically online.”

Some hold the opinion that Bo Nix, Auburn’s quarterback from 2019 to 2021, was “cyber bullied” into transferring to Oregon. The memes about him were incessant and unforgiving, some even continue to this day.

Head football coach Bryan Harsin’s personal reputation was almost destroyed when the online fanbase started spreading rumors that he was having an affair in the spring of 2022. The tension was high for a few weeks, but it was eventually resolved and dismissed.

Instead of defending their coach and team, Auburn’s online fanbase largely embraced the rumors and ran with hysteria.

Often paired with the label “chronically online” is the saying “you need to touch grass.”

According to Urban Dictionary: “When someone is delusional or acting unrealistic, like they don’t know how the world works anymore, this is a way to tell them they need to get offline and experience the ‘real’ world.”

The “grass” that Auburn’s online fanbase needs to touch is the grass of Samford Lawn on a sunny day, the Quad Green during tailgating hours, Toomer’s Corner after a win and maybe even Pat Dye Field during an intense matchup.

Doing so will remind them of the reality that Auburn is an amazing place to be and an incredible family to be part of.

Playing football is extremely difficult, and not many can do it — let alone do it perfectly. Auburn fans love Auburn as a whole, not just when their teams are winning. This is obvious when someone is in-person, but being online can eliminate sympathy and remembrance for that special, indescribable atmosphere.

The reality of Auburn is that it is a home for many people, a real family.

This was displayed recently at the 2022 Homecoming football game against Missouri. The stands were packed. The tailgates were full of parents and fans new and old. The band brought smiles to everyone’s faces. The game gave fans sunburns and a few new gray hairs. The ending was legendary. Toomer’s Corner got rolled. It was an iconic, yet traditional day that the Auburn family enjoyed.

The online version of the Auburn family has the potential to be positive; everyone saw it during basketball season last year. It could unite the family further and make it reach across the world.

But even the eagle needs to touch grass eventually.

Getting out of the endless Twitter threads — no matter how funny or true they are — is necessary to experience the sweet reality of being a member of the Auburn family.

It is a family that values loyalty, camaraderie, humor, superstition, school spirit, sports, hard work, tradition, inclusion, service, respect, bravery and happiness. It is made up of true Auburn women and men who carry these principles from the Plains and who unite around the world.

COLUMN | Why you should buy into Auburn

By CALLIE STANFORD Sports Editor

Welcome to the SEC, where athletics reign supreme. But not to everyone.

Depending on the reason you came to Auburn, athletics may not be the reason you came but it’s certainly a part of the University I think everyone should explore.

I’m going to ask you to throw football out the window. That’s its own thing, and while I certainly think it’s worth everyone going to, the best starting point comes outside Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Regardless of whether or not you enjoy sports, exploring the sports of Auburn can be a great time to hang out with friends and experience a part of the university you otherwise wouldn’t get to see.

Student tickets are free, and sometimes aren’t even

scanned, so non-football sports provide a cheap opportunity to dip your toes in the water if sports aren’t really your thing. Because admission is free, sporting events provide an opportunity to hang out with friends without the hassle of trying to find where to go and how much everyone is willing to pay.

Gymnastics and volleyball provide an opportunity to support female athletes while also being some of the most energetic events, even if you don’t know what’s going on. A big plus of being in Neville Arena is that you aren’t at the mercy of the tricky Alabama weather.

I think the best sunsets in Auburn can be seen at Plainsman Park. Baseball is certainly slow and it took me a long time to grow to enjoy it, but this is a good one to just drop by for a while or even settle in with some homework.

Jane B. Moore field has the same thing but with softball. It’s a short walk from campus and their concession

stand has some of the best hot chocolate ever.

Long games make for the best hangouts and if you catch it right, this is some of the best weather out there. Soccer is a fall sport that has beautiful weather and their field has a beautiful view of the Red Barn at Ag Heritage Park.

A little further off campus, sports like equestrian, golf and tennis are a bit different, but certainly worth exploring. Taking you on a bit of a drive, these will show you parts of Auburn you may never see otherwise. These are all very successful programs and even though they may be hard to understand, sometimes the most fun comes in guessing what the rules may be.

Whether it’s to study, get a little Vitamin D or maybe to watch something you’ve never seen before, the sports here are worth checking out. It’s a cost-effective way of getting the most out of your college experience.

COLUMN | How to break into the Auburn football fandom

By JAC MYRICK Sports Writer

Being a fan of Auburn football is often a hobby that turns into passion.

For many people, they are born into families with decades of dedication to the school. But for those who have no allegiance to the team, how or where do they start to get into Auburn football?

It is hard to not be in the loop about football in fall in the United States with it being the largest sport in the nation, but it is even harder to avoid the sport once a person steps foot on The Plains. As always, fall rolls around and people all over the country turn their tele visions to football on the weekends, but football does have its drawbacks and criticism that are ongoing today.

Let’s face it, football is a dangerous sport to play even with today’s rules and safety measures — as well saw during Auburn’s opening kickoff versus LSU.

Today, people may be hesitant to invest in the sport of football because of the risks that it poses to the play ers. At the same time, this is what draws people into the love of the game. It’s hard not to get amped seeing a touchdown or big hit.

There are multiple ways to get into football. One could play the National Collegiate Athletic Association Football or Madden NFL video games to learn the rules and how the game works. Someone could simply just watch games with friends who are already invested in the sport. Then, some may go join a local flag football

league or the passion might have sprung from playing the sport growing up.

The sport can be seen as a brotherhood among play ers because of the team sport aspect. Football has a deep connection with the United States’ culture.

Super Bowl Sunday is an example of this with mil lions across the nation tuning in for the big game.

On a smaller scale, local high school games could leave a town silent with everyone under those Friday night lights.

Football has a social event atmosphere where people from all over come to support their team and experience the phenomenon of a game.

There is something about football that just brings people together. For Auburn, it’s over 80,000 packing Jordan-Hare on Saturdays to see the Tigers take the field.

Jordan-Hare, being the 12th largest stadium in col lege football, is one of the toughest stadiums to play in as a visitor having to deal with a rowdy student section. The stadium can get loud quickly with any momentous play.

Some of the most memorable games of the last decade were by Auburn, such as “The Prayer at Jordan-Hare,” “The Camback” and “Kick Six.” These games were against prominent SEC schools and widely televised with championship hopes on the line.

The love of the school’s football team can be for nu merous reasons. Any given play inside Jordan-Hare can become something unforgettable.

Auburn is a school of tradition that has a deep his tory in college football. Being part of one of the power five conferences allows the Orange and Blue to be wide ly known by many in the nation. The program has had some mainstream names come out of it.

Many players from the school later go on to play at the professional level. Auburn has a great deal of play ers across the league today representing the Orange and Blue proudly. However, some stand out from the rest of the pack.

In the last decade, the Tigers had one of the most well-known college quarterbacks in Cam Newton. That year, Newton led Auburn to a national championship which left a legacy behind.

There is nothing like a fall Saturday on the Plains. Auburn’s game day traditions are amazing showings of the pageantry of college football from the Tiger Walk to the rolling of Toomer’s Corner after wins. The school can boast having one the most accomplished mascots in the NCAA, Aubie the Tiger.

Aubie has a role in the atmosphere of Jordan-Hare, but with him you have a band that gets the fans going. These are the staples for college football games.

Auburn may be an everything school, but football just means so much to the school and city of Auburn. To be a fan of Auburn football can be a rollercoaster ride of emotions — but there is no other roller coaster with the twists, turns and loops of Auburn football. The Or ange and Blue can live on with someone for the rest of their life.

ELIZABETH MARSH | PHOTOGRAPHER

Two superfans cheer on the Auburn tigers in a matchup agaisnt LSU in Jordan-Hare Stadium on Oct. 1, 2022.

Ric Smith: The man behind

MATTHEW POCZATECK | PHOTOGRAPHER Jordan-Hare Stadium pictured on Aug. 8, 2022.

By LILY STEWART Sports Writer

His deep, commanding voice, known as well to Auburn fans as the fight song has carried fans through the highs and lows of home games in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Ric Smith has been the announcer of football games in Jordan-Hare for the past 17 years.

Smith grew up in Bel Air, Ala. before moving to South Carolina. He attended the University of South Carolina for his undergrad before returning home to Alabama and attending Auburn for graduate school.

“So once again I’m connected with Auburn football, it really has been a lifelong connection,” Smith said.

During his time on The Plains, he joined WEGL, and that was when he learned how to announce and fell in love with it.

Smith’s first public announcing job was at Opelika High School, where he announced under the Friday night lights for the Bulldogs.

After doing this for a few years, he was asked to be the play-by-play announcer for the Auburn University baseball team. This play-by-play job landed him the job as the public announcer for baseball.

As the play-by-play announcer, his job was to update fans in the stadium on the plays that were taking place as well as explain to them so everyone could follow and stay up to date on the action. As public announcer, he kept the fans entertained while the game was going on and during breaks along

with providing information.

Announcing baseball for Auburn is what ultimately led to Smith getting the job as the football announcer for Auburn. He spent five years there before being asked to take the position at Jordan-Hare.

Smith never had to attend a formal audition to get the job. His audition was done one game at a time over the five years he worked for the baseball team.

Smith has been an Auburn fan his entire life. He can remember games before there was an upper deck with lights and every single game was played in the afternoon. So, getting this job was a surreal moment for him.

“I’m in my 17th year, and I hope that feeling never goes away,” Smith said.

But his job is a week-long ordeal. Preparation for Saturdays takes more than just a day, it is a process.

Smith’s preparation for the game starts on Monday when he starts to put together information from the visiting team. He also looks to see if they have published a depth chart yet. If not, he bumps that task to Tuesday.

Tuesday, he starts to pull together the info of who will be playing — who’s running, catching and throwing the ball in order to start putting together his depth charts.

Around Wednesday, the marking director sends Smith a Microsoft Excel sheet with everything that is going to need to be said during the game. This Excel sheet acts as the draft of the script for the game. This form not only goes to Smith, but also to anyone who’s involved with the production of the game.

Then, he takes all the information and changes it into a format that’s easier for him to read. He

the voice of Auburn football prints them out on a piece of paper so that he can annotate or make changes. This, along with a depth chart and stats sheet, sit in a binder.

Late on Friday, the final script is sent to Smith, and he looks over for changes that may have been made.

On the day of a night game, Smith will wake up around 8 or 9 a.m. He sits down at his dining room table to read the script.

“The way you practice is the way you play. So, I actually will announce everything at home and I have to do it the same way at home the same way I would do it [at the stadium],” Smith said.

After practice and lunch, it’s time to head to the stadium. Smith picks up his spotter Eric Canada three hours before the game begins and they make their way over. Canada sits beside Smith in the box and helps him spot where the ball is and the players involved in the pervious play to make sure the right players are identified and announced.

Getting to the game this early allows them both to eat and speak to people from the visiting team about name pronunciations and game notes.

Smith doesn’t have just one thing that he loves about game days. Whether the games are so loud that Smith and Canada have to yell while sitting next to each other to hear or quieter ones like during the season of 2020, when the stadium couldn’t be filled due to COVID-19 restrictions, no game ever disappoints.

“Every game is special in its own way and that’s somewhat how I feel about my favorite part of the day,” Smith said.

However, he loves watching the students flood into the student section as soon as the gates open and the walk up to the stadium when he first arrives on campus.

“I love walking on the campus and seeing the tents and flags and the smoke coming up on the barbecue grills,” Smith said.

Once in the stadium, it’s hard to enjoy the game as a fan since the game is fast moving and he has

to announce every play that has taken place. Smith is able to step back during the eagle flight and the bands pregame performance.

After the game, Smith can finally relax. He makes his way to his friend’s house off Donahue after the game to tailgate since he can’t before the game. Here, he is able to talk about and rewatch the game as a fan instead of an employee — without the filter of an announcer, and without the audience of a full Jordan-Hare.

“It looks so different when I watch it as a fan because I am actually able to watch progression of plays… It’s like a brand-new experience,” Smith said.

Smith had some advice for anyone wanting to be the person to follow in his footsteps by public announcing at Jordan-Hare next.

First, he says to surround yourself with people who will be brutally honest with you but also make sure those people understand your goals. This way, you can get outside advice on how you’re coming across and help grow into the best version of yourself.

Second, he said to record yourself and listen to it. The voice in your head sounds different than what comes out to the public, and the more you listen to yourself, the more you are able to learn how to connect to the audience, which is a big part of the job Smith iterated.

“Get as much experience as you can. And all experiences connect,” Smith said.

No matter if one starts as a disk jockey and then goes on to radio host then goes into sports, everything connects as the work continues on the same skills needed to get the job.

Besides the tailgate after the games, Smith has been on a never-ending grind ever since Auburn begun the season on Sept. 5 with five straight home games.

Jordan-Hare was empty, and Smith was in Tichenor Hall connecting journalism and communication students with companies for internships — that is his focal point until Oct. 29, when the Arkansas Razorbacks bring competition back into Jordan-Hare Stadium once again.

The

Plainsman:

CONTRIBUTED BY AUBURN ATHLETICS

MATTHEW POCZATEK | PHOTOGRAPHER

ELIZABETH MARSH | PHOTOGRAPHER

LIFESTYLE

‘An experience words can’t even describe’

Auburn student describes day in her life as Auburn majorette

By HAILEY SMITH Culture Writer

The roaring colors of orange and navy bring the Auburn family together for a day under the stadium lights of Jor dan-Hare.

There are many things that come together to create an Au burn game day like stadium snacks, a sea of tailgates and all the people who make the arena come to life. The Auburn major ettes are one of those groups who help set the scene for an Au burn game.

Emma Kate Holley, sophomore in marketing and in person al sales gave us the inside scoop of what being a majorette on a typical game day at Auburn University entails.

Holley’s typical game day isn’t like the rest of Auburn stu dents. For her, game day begins with an early rise and a full day ahead.

“A typical game day for me is extremely fun. It starts off with

a morning practice depending on what time the game is but normally I get up around 5:30 a.m to get ready for the game be fore practice,” Holley said. “Then normally, if I have time after practice, I get to rest a bit and fix my hair before Tiger Walk.”

There is much preparation the majorettes take part in to get ready to perform for the game to make sure everything runs smoothly.

“We practice Monday through Saturday for two hours a day when we have home games, it’s all worth it though it pays off because game day is so fun which makes the practice worth it,” Holley said. “Then, before the game, we practice for three hours.”

Not only do the majorettes perform at the game, they also get to walk out with the band in the tiger walk.

“It is an experience words can’t even describe. It is so fun. We do the parade where we line up with the band and we do Glo ry and War Eagle down to four corners in the little parade be fore,” Holley said.

There are many things Holley said she loves about being a

majorette but her top favorite is the friendships she has made.

“The program is just amazing to be a part of and I have made friendships that will last a lifetime and when I was a little girl I looked up to the majorettes so now getting to be one is so seri al and is such an honor,” Holley said.

Holley has been twirling since the age of three and grew up going to watch the halftime shows where she dreamed of one day getting to perform on that field. Even though she has years of practice sometimes she still gets nervous before the jog out of the tunnel.

“The nerves of leading the band out is just insane but I al ways remind myself we practice this for months and I know I can do it,” Holley said.

One thing Holley has learned from the majorettes is time management. According to her, this skill comes from the many moving parts that make an Auburn game day happen.

“The majorettes have taught me how to handle every thing at once, like the halftime show and tiger walk. It’s a lot of responsibility but so worth it,” Holley said.

CONTRIBUTED BY AUBURN UNIVERSITY DIGITAL ARCHIVE

Head Majorette Kelda Ward, 91, stands in the middle of Auburn’s first majorette line.

LIFESTYLE

The Auburn Dream: Game day as an International Student

By HANNAH RAITZ Culture Writer

A uburn natives and college football fans from all across the country agree: Auburn is one of the best gameday experiences in the nation.

Since Auburn also has thousands of international students, it begs the question: how do they experience game days, and what do they have to say about our traditions in a global comparison? Here’s what makes Auburn football special, from an international perspective.

First, let’s talk about Auburn students’ biggest pride: Jordan-Hare Stadium. Sajith Muralidhar, graduate student in computer science and software engineering from India, said he is impressed by its pure size.

“Jordan Hare Stadium is really huge. I’ve never seen a football stadium before and this is my first so yeah, it’s just really huge,” Muralidhar said.

Alex Reif, junior in computer science and software engineering from Germany, especially appreciates the location of the stadium.

“The stadium itself was not that impressive to me because I’ve been to a lot of stadiums in Germany already, but it’s impressive how central the stadium is on campus,” Reif said.

One thing that many students find unique to Auburn is the general atmosphere on home-game Saturdays. International students appreciate the family feeling and involvement of the whole town.

Jerome Joshi, PhD in finance from India, expressed this sentiment.

“I like the energy of the entire college town on game day, people seem lively and in a good mood altogether,” Joshi said.

Muralidhar further explains this feeling. “You know, the chants in the start, how everybody knows them and I’m just like looking at how people are so united in that part and it’s such a great atmosphere,” Joshi said.

For many international students, this feeling of one big Auburn family was one of the reasons to come to Auburn.

Yasmine Adamali, graduate student in development practice from Honduras, describes how she uses gamedays to socialize and meet new people.

“I think it’s like a social culture here”, Adamali said.

Sricharan Rajaraman Ramalakshmi, graduate student in mechanical engineering from India, remembers his favorite gameday moment.

“Watching the intro video of Auburn as a family literally gave me and my friends goosebumps,” Ramalakshmi said.

While football is undoubtedly the biggest sport in the US, it pays to look beyond the horizon. In India, for example, the national sport is cricket. In Iran, it’s wrestling or chovgan, a Persian polo game, whereas in Germany and Honduras the excitement about soccer is comparable to the American excitement about football.

German exchange student Tobias Lurz, senior in industrial engineering, describe how more and more people in Germany become interested in American football right now

“KFC even offers special Superbowl baskets in Germany,” Lurz said.

Auburn’s international students, however, point out one important difference from their home countries.

“In Honduras, we are big in soccer. It’s different in regard to how over here, more people are into football, I’ve spoken to many Americans and most of them are really into the game. The population that likes the sport is way bigger here in the US,” Adamali said.

Muralidhar shares this opinion. “The amount of people watching college sports, especially football and basketball here, is crazy to me,” Muralidhar said.

Ramalakshmi is surprised that in the US, boys and girls are equally interested in football because sports are more important to boys in his home country.

This gender difference between countries becomes even more apparent when Sepideh Barzegarfallah, a graduate student in fisheries, explains that women are not even allowed into the stadium in Iran.

Let’s not forget about the one truly American tradition that internationals get to experience during their time at Auburn: tailgating.

“I think my favorite gameday tradition is tailgating, it’s amazing to see how there’s food everywhere, how much work that must be and what an incredibly great effort people make to set that up,”said Lurz Joshi, PhD student from India. “The vibe at the tailgating event is on another level.”

All in all, Auburn’s international students are enthusiastic about experiencing game days and everything that comes with it.

“Being to an American football game was like realizing a dream come true for me,” said Reif.

CALLIE STANFORD | SPORTS EDITOR

ELIZABETH MARSH | PHOTOGRAPHER

Traditions and atmosphere highlight Auburn visit for non-SEC students

By ELLIE TOMISEK Culture Writer

Auburn is home to many traditions, such as rolling Toomer’s Corner when the Tigers is victo rious, or flying an eagle around Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Known for its extensive alumni network, Auburn fans travel from all over the country to cele brate football season. For other universities who are not members of the SEC, game days on cam pus look different.

Jack Friscorn, senior studying communication and sports management at University of Tampa, starts to unpack this notion when he talked of his vis it to the Auburn vs. Penn State football game.

“It felt as if the entire town was around on Saturday morning, which created an unbelievable atmosphere,” Friscorn said. “This was es pecially a far cry from Tampa, where school spirit is hard to come by and most of our experiences are centered around the city and the beach.”

Friscorn added that he felt the school and surrounding com munity were centered around football.

“The city of Auburn is built from the inside out. The town is built to support the school, as opposed to the school being built within the context of the city, like Tampa,” Friscorn said.

Friscorn also remarked on the “classic college” atmosphere.

“The stereotypical college experience is college football, school spirit, tailgating, and Greek life, all of which I saw front and center at Auburn,” Friscorn said.

The Auburn experience extends past its traditions.

“I certainly experienced southern hospitality. The people and community were very welcoming and kind, which isn’t something I’m necessarily used to having grown up in New York,” Friscorn said. “It was fascinating to compare the vast differences between the two.”

Alyssa Somogyi, senior at Carroll University studying elementary and special education, com ments on this feeling as well.

“I expected to be nervous or anxious here. I have visited other big universities and I felt anxious about the unknown,” Somogyi said. “I’m not sure if the school being in the south influenced these feelings because I haven’t had many experiences in the south, but I was surprised by the home feeling I had while I was here. I didn’t feel lost or like an outcast. I felt com fortable, safe, and like I belonged.”

Despite the unknown, Somogyi said she liked how calm the campus felt. “I liked how the school was so big and there were so many people but also the calmness. I didn’t feel overwhelmed or like I was at this huge, scary school. I liked the people and the overall environment. I had fun while feeling safe and I loved the gameday energy,” said Somogyi.

Somogyi and Friscorn also commented on the dress for fans at tending the football games.

“People dressed nicer than they do at my school. The atmo sphere is much different,” Somogyi said.

This elevated game-day garb is yet another side of Auburn’s cul ture.

“Most boys were in polos and khakis, and a lot of girls wore dress es. The attire of the Auburn students was much different from that of Tampa, where the majority of us are from northern states such as New York and New Jersey. We don’t dress up for sports events like this,” Friscorn said.

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER | MATTHEW POCZATEK

Jarquez Hunter carries the ball for a first down in match of Auburn and PSU at Jordan Hare Stadium Sep. 17 , 2022

ER|MATTHEW POCZ

What do the Plains mean to you?

By KARA MAUTZ Culture Writer

As another fall semester unfolds on Au burn’s campus, the days will quickly fill with the hustle and bustle of classes, exams and campus life.

While it is easy to get lost in the stress and chaos of college life, the start of a new school year is the perfect time to appreciate and re mind yourself why you decided to become a part of the Auburn Family, and what do “the Plains” mean to you?

Becky Bass, junior in poultry science, said that she initially chose Auburn due to the proximity to her hometown and had dreamed of attending since she was a child.

“I’ve always loved Auburn, even in a fami ly full of Alabama fans,” Bass said. “It also had a great veterinary program, and although I changed to poultry science, Auburn arguably has the best poultry education in the country.”

As a member of the Auburn University Marching Band, Bass is grateful for the expe riences that being in the band has brought her and enriched her college experience.

“My most special memory at Auburn was playing with the band at the Iron Bowl last year at Jordan-Hare,” Bass said. “I’m lucky enough to march in our pregame show, which our fans go crazy for. It’s so fun to be on the field and not even be able to hear my own thoughts because of how loud the stadium is. It’s so exciting to have fans that care that much about Auburn.”

Rees Cooke, sophomore in pre-med, said that although her first semester was a difficult adjustment, she is so grateful that she chose to attend college in the “the Loveliest Village on the Plains.”

“Auburn is one of the best communities I’ve been in,” Cooke said. “Even though my first se mester of freshman year was lonely, I never fell out of love with Auburn, it just felt like home.

The community I made here is so special to me and I want others to experience the love I have received.”

Cooke said that her favorite memory from her time as an Auburn student so far has been her first football game in Jordan-Hare Stadi um as a freshman.

“I got to attend the Auburn-Tennessee foot ball game in 2020 when COVID was still ram pant, so it wasn’t the same then,” Cooke said. “I fully admit that I cried at my first football game watching the eagle fly, seeing the band run out and watching the iconic ‘tick-ock’ hype vid eo. I do remember that after the game I text ed my parents saying how much I love Auburn and how grateful I am that they sent me to this amazing place.”

Mary Margaret Fogarty-Howle, senior in human development and family studies, said that she had also dreamed of coming to college at Auburn since she was a child.

“At seven years old, I was told , ‘You will be

an Auburn Tiger’ by my older brother,” Fog arty-Howle said. “Seeing the lifelong friend ships my brother gained from Auburn was something I dreamed, and now as a senior, I can say that the friendships I have made here will last a lifetime.”

Fogarty-Howle said that one of her favor ite parts of being a student at Auburn has been the wisdom and encouragement she has expe rienced from her professors and peers, which recently helped her to land her dream intern ship.

“I was actually enrolled at another univer sity with a roommate and everything, but de cided on a whim to apply to Auburn during the height of the pandemic and was accepted,” Fogarty-Howle said. “I had never even toured, but I knew it was fate and Auburn was the place I am meant to call home.”

Fogarty-Howle said that some of her favor ite memories as an Auburn student come from the campus atmosphere on football game days.

The AU Jungle plans on expanding to other sports

By Kara Mautz Culture Writer

As we near the end of football season, Auburn fans will not be the only ones looking for other sports to turn their attention to in the off season.

The Jungle, the official student section for Auburn men’s basketball, has continued to grow and heighten the energy within the student section with each passing year.

Since its creation, The Jungle has focused soley on bas ketball, and has been full of passion, chaos and loyal, ea ger students at every game to cheer on the team and sup port their school.

However, as we approach the start of the 2022-2023 basketball season, The Jungle is looking at the possibility of expanding into other Auburn sports and the opportu nity to spread that excitement that can be found at every basketball game in Neville Arena.

Jenny McBride, the current president of The Jungle, said that while the focus of The Jungle is always going to be men’s basketball, the members of The Jungle are excit ed about the idea of expanding into other sports.

“While the Jungle’s main roots and foundation is in

men’s basketball in the arena, we have worked with the Athletics Department and other student leaders to expand the Jungle into supporting different teams,” McBride said.

However, McBride says that the idea is not to create a carbon copy of The Jungle for every Auburn Sport, but rather have similarly structured, established student sec tions under the umbrella of The Jungle.

“For instance, our Jungle members are excited about creating new names for the student sections at other sports,” McBride said. “We are talking about calling soc cer ‘Hoppa’s Hooligans’ or gymnastics, ‘Gymnasties.’ Mc Bride said that she is most excited about seeing the pas sion of The Jungle extend into other sports.

“I’m already seeing the expansion of The Jungle, and we have already greatly increased the number of staff,” Mc Bride said. “And each of our staff members brings a dif ferent passion for sports to the table. With our numbers, I cannot wait to see the passion spread to other sports not only through our staff, but also through Auburn stu dents.”

As for this year’s basketball season, McBride said that she is looking forward to forming new relationships with the Auburn Athletics staff and students, as well as see

ing all of the hard work of the exec and staff of The Jun gle come to fruition.

“The Jungle currently holds weekly meetings for our executive and staff members to plan out this upcoming season,” McBride said. “We want to make sure we have all of the merch, prints and themes planned out for the season so we are ahead of the game. We also coordinate with athletics staff, Dan Heck, Caroline Colletta and Matt Amos to make sure everything is running smoothly.”

McBride said many of her favorite moments through out her time as an Auburn student have come from in side Neville Arena, cheering on the Men’s Basketball team with thousands of loyal fans by her side.

“I started my freshman year off as one of the students who camped outside waiting to get a good spot for the game. I made some of my closest friends doing this,” Mc Bride said. “I continued standing in lines throughout the previous season, and I fell in love with the atmosphere. I saw what people are willing to sacrifice to get access to the game [whether that be sleep, warmth, or other plans], and the love our students have for not only Bruce Pearl and the men’s basketball team, but also Auburn Univer sity itself.

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER | LARRY ROBINSON

4, 2021; Auburn, Alabama; The Auburn Jungle raises its banner reading “Fear The Jungle” before Auburn and Yale tip off in the Auburn Arena.

LIFESTYLE

Burcham living out his dream, a demanding one announcing for Auburn

By Jacob Waters Sports Reporter

Growing up outside of southern Illinois, Andy Burcham knew from a young age he wanted to pursue a career in announcing. He got his first chance when he was a freshman at a junior college in his home state.

He started as the third man in the booth calling football games at his high school. From there, everything took off.

His sophomore year he jumped into announcing high school basketball after a position at the local radio station opened up. The station knew Burcham was interested, so they offered him and he accepted his first play-by-play commentary position.

After enrolling at Indiana State and working on the campus radio station, Burcham landed a job at a radio station in Bloomington, Illinois, just a year after graduating to cover football, basketball and baseball for Illinois State.

Burcham returned to his home state later and spent four years as a part of the football crew for Southern Illinois University.

Then, in 1988, Burcham moved to Auburn, and the rest is history.

He covered Auburn women’s basketball for 31 years and is entering his 29th year as the play-byplay announcer for Auburn baseball games.

In 1990, Burcham joined the football crew doing mainly locker room interviews, and in 2019, he officially became the Voice of the Auburn Tigers - covering football and men’s basketball.

While at Auburn, Burcham has experienced things that most people only dream of witnessing.

Burcham, alongside former Voice of the Auburn Tigers, Rod Bramblett, called David Ross’ walkoff home run over Florida State in 1997 which pushed Auburn into eventually making the College World Series. Burcham noted that Auburn’s run to the College World Series this past season was another memorable moment for him to call.

Calling two consecutive College Women’s Basketball National Championships; his first Iron Bowl which Auburn dramatically won in 2019; and the entire 2021-22 basketball season where Auburn swept Alabama, won the SEC Championship and earned its first No. 1 ranking in program history all stand out to Burcham when he reflects on his career.

As a major staple of Auburn media, Burcham also constantly travels to new places. He’s traveled the country calling major sporting events, and during Thanksgiving week this fall, he’ll travel to Cancún, Mexico as Auburn basketball participates in the Cancún Challenge.

Unfortunately for sports commentators, the big game and travel does not always outshine the negatives.

According to Burcham, time management is the hardest part of his job. He conducted research for the Georgia game 10 days before the game was played. He then called the Auburn versus LSU game three days later, recorded a podcast and hosted Tiger Talk, a weekly radio show with head football coach Bryan Harsin and others before that Georgia game even occurred.

“Time management, it can take a toll, and believe me, I’m not complaining about that,” Burcham said. “But the job is you’re working every weekend, and during baseball season, you’re working everyday, so you better love what you’re doing. You better have an understanding family. Time management has been the biggest challenge for me going into my fourth season.”

Burcham and his wife, Jan, do not have any children, so Burcham said he “has not had that dynamic of missing ballgames and recitals,” but constantly being away from Auburn is still difficult.

“It’s a lot of time being away from home,” Burcham said. “I’m very fortunate that Jan is a big Auburn fan. She likes to be at the games that I’m doing as much as possible. The first five football games have been at home, so I haven’t been on the road, but we’re about to get on the road a lot come basketball season and baseball season. We can be on the road quite a bit.”

Specifically around Thanksgiving and Christmas, scheduling for the holidays can get tricky for the Burchams.

Auburn basketball plays the two days before Thanksgiving, and Auburn football plays Alabama

two days after. Auburn travels to Los Angeles the week before Christmas to play USC and plays in Seattle three days later on Dec. 21 against Washington. For Burcham, navigating his job while finding time to celebrate is a challenge.

“My family lives in Illinois, and Jan’s family lives in Huntsville,” Burcham said. “It’s tough to figure out what we’re going to do for the holidays. ‘How are we going to get here? How are we going to get there?’ It takes a little bit of cooperation and coordination.”

Given some of the negatives of being an announcer, like the long days and constant work that is demanded, burnout is a potential threat. Burcham kept two things in mind to evade the burnout and latch onto what he loves.

The first was accepting the demand of a seamlessly never-ending job.

“It’s part of the job,” Burcham said. “It’s not surprising that that’s a part of it, so that’s what you sign up for.”

The second was striving to improve every chance he gets. Burcham understands the privilege of his job and makes sure not to take it for granted.

“I want to get better, to continue to improve, to do this job as long as I possibly can and do it at the highest level,” Burcham said. “This is a bucket-list position for me. It’s been a dream of mine for a long, long time, and in spite of the fact of how it came about, I want to do the very best job that I possibly can. That entails getting better every game, every broadcast and never being satisfied.”

PHOTO

Harris to continue building in year two at Auburn Tigers hope to keep improving on victories from 2021-2022 season

By CALLIE STANFORD Sports Editor

In its first season under head coach Johnnie Harris, the Tigers went 10-18 overall an 2-14 in a rebuild year that saw some major strides forward, despite what the numbers show. Both SEC wins came against ranked opponents, with the shining gem of the season being a home win over No. 4 Tennessee. It was a decisive win, too, with the Tigers earning their first conference win with a 71-61 win over the Lady Volunteers.

The second win was over rival Georgia, a 65-60 home win over the then-No. 21 Bulldogs. Auburn was without Romi Levy, who missed out on her sophomore season due to an ACL tear. Without Levy, the Tiger scoring was led by Aicha Coulibaly, who averaged 17.1 points per game. Overall, Auburn averaged 63.7 points per game and gave up an average 65.9 points to its opponents. Harris’ roster features nine freshmen and two seniors, Sania Wells and Honesty Scott-Grayson. In addition to those returning leaders is new associate head coach Fred Williams. Williams has spent 25 years coaching professionally and now finds a home in Auburn, replacing Bob Starkey as the associate head coach. Starkey returned to coach at LSU after spend ing 22 years of his earlier career with the Bayou Bengals. With a shift in coaching staff and the addition of new faces on the court, the Tigers look to grow on the successes of their 2021-2022 campaign.

12/29/22 @ Ole Miss: 6 p.m. CST

Auburn will have to hit the road for its first conference game, a trip to Mississippi to face a team that won by 20 points last year. The Tigers went down 72-52 in a late-February game against the Rebels.

1/5/22 @ South Carolina : 6 p.m. CST

Auburn heads east to face last year’s national champions, a team that beat the Tigers 75-38 last February. The Gamecocks hold a 24-16 lead in all-time games against Auburn

1/15/23 @ LSU : 2 p.m. CST

This game will be played al most one year to the day of its same from last season, when Auburn fell 76-48 at home to the listing Tigers. LSU holds a 22-17 margin in the all-time record.

1/22/23 vs Ole Miss : 4 p.m. CST (SEC Network)

In this second matchup with the Rebels, Auburn will have home-court advantage in Nev ille Arena and will already know what to expect from their foes.

1/1/23 vs Missouri : 3 p.m. CST (SEC Network)

Auburn’s overall record against the Tigers is 15-27, with the most recent contest being a 81-66 loss on the road. Auburn is 4-9 against the Tigers from Columbia.

1/8/23 vs Alabama : 4 p.m. CST (SEC Network)

Last March, the Iron Bowl of basketball featured a close 75-68 game where the Tide just edged out Auburn. The Tigers hold a 34-30 winning record in their history against their rivals.

1/19/23 @ Mississippi State :

7 p.m. CST

This matchup was a close one last year. Auburn lost 70-65 at home but has to be the away team in this year’s game. The Tigers are behind 18-23 with a 10-game losing streak.

1/26/23 @ Kentucky : 6 p.m. CST

In what was a tough loss last season, Auburn went down 90-62 to the Wildcats in Rupp Arena. The Tigers sit just be hind, at 19-24 in overall match ups against Kentucky.

1/30/23 vs Florida : 6 p.m. CST (SEC Network)

Yet another close loss, Au burn fell to Florida 83-77 at home. This series is tied as 2222, so whoever takes the win this season will also hold the overall lead.

2/9/23 vs South Carolina: 7 p.m. CST

This matchup is the second of the season against Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks, with Auburn host ing in a game where they should know what’s coming.

2/19/23 @ Tennessee: 11 a.m. CST (SEC Network OR ESPN2)

If Auburn is gunning for Arkan sas as a revenge game, this is the same for the Vols. The Tigers had a dominant win over the No. 4 team at home, shocking the nation and showing the team’s true potential.

2/16/23 vs Texas A&M : 7 p.m. CST

Auburn’s fate against the Ag gies has not been good. Auburn has lost all 16 times it faced Tex as A&M, the most recent being a 71-53 loss in College Station.

2/5/23 vs Arkansas :

2 p.m. CST (SEC Network)

Auburn lost 68-66 just one year ago in a game where the fourth quarter just got too tough. The Tigers were out scored 19-11 in the game’s fi nal quarter, allowing the Razor backs to pull out the close win.

2/12/23 @ Alabama :

4 p.m. CST (SEC Network)

This will be a matchup dif ferent than Auburn’s oth er SEC duplicates where they host the second game. The Ti gers hit the road in the second half of this conference faceoff.

2/23/23 @ Georgia : 6 p.m. CST

This was Auburn’s second SEC win of last season. The Ti gers took down a ranked Bull dog team 65-60 and will have to attempt to do the same thing in enemy territory this season.

2/26/23 vs Vanderbilt : 3 p.m. CST (SEC Network)

Auburn is 8-2 in the last 10 times it has faced the Commo dores. The Tigers head to Nash ville to avenge a 81-66 loss from last year.

DANIEL SCHMIDT | ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

Feb. 14, 2022; Auburn, Ala; Auburn women’s basketball team huddles up during a game against Florida from Auburn Arena

Day in the life: Auburn football equipment manager

By CAROLINE MASON News Writer

When it’s game day at Auburn University, the last thing staff want to worry about is a player walk ing out wearing the wrong equipment. Behind the scenes, an equipment manager works tirelessly to ensure all attire and equipment are ready to go before kickoff.

From design to the distribution of football jerseys, Tyler Renard, director of football equipment for Auburn University, oversees it all.

This supervision is not limited to just the players on the field.

“Anything and everything our coaches and staff wear, myself or my staff are responsible for,” Re nard said. The equipment manager supervises a staff of 15 student managers, as well as three fulltime assistants.

Although not often recognized in the public eye, the career is a demanding one that requires a lot of multi-tasking and team effort.

“Truly Saturdays, especially during the game, should be my quietest hours of the week,” Renard said.

The process of equipment production takes about 18 months.

“The order window for Under Armour for next fall just came out,” Renard said. All items ordered by the end of October are expected to start arriving on July 1, 2023.

“That’s how far in advance we have to be with our supply and that’s across the board when it comes to equipment people. Adidas is the same way. Nike is the same way,” Renard said.

The whole week leading up to a Saturday football game is spent packing trunks, pressing wrin kles out of jerseys so that they look good on national TV and making sure all the grass stains are out from the past weekend.

Renard refers to the work week as a “massive group effort” getting players’ game loops – every thing players wear under their jerseys and pants – ready and double-checked.

“From the outside looking in, we look like chaos. But when you’re in the middle of it, you know exactly what’s going on and what all needs to get done,” Renard said.

The best part of the career, according to Renard, is the relationships he’s able to make with the players.

“Just to see those kids develop and grow into the men and the husbands that they turn into. It’s something that I really enjoy about my job,” Renard said.

Renard reminisced watching Frank Ragnow, center for the Detroit Lions, progress while at the University of Arkansas.

“I remember Frank coming to Arkansas as this babyface, 18-year-old that was from Minnesota and just liked to talk about fishing,” Renard said.

He recalled Ragnow’s humility and how he enjoyed seeing his friend get to where he is now.

“He just signed a contract extension in the offseason that made him currently the highest paid cen ter in the NFL,” Renard said.

During a typical day, they attend a staff meeting to go over the practice plan. They discuss what the dress is going to be, whether the players are just in helmets or if they need full pads.

Someone from Renard’s staff has to be present for early morning practice to make sure players have all their equipment and provide backups in case anything breaks.

Once players return from classes for afternoon practice, Renard and his team pass out game loops. The student managers help coordinate which position groups to oversee and ensure everything goes smoothly.

“When practice is over, I have three student managers stay and do laundry,” Renard said.

As for game day preparations, they start as early as one to two hours after the last game ended.

“I have two to three student managers that will collect all the jerseys in the locker room. And we start getting grass stains out of those jerseys,” Renard said.

Rain makes the job more complicated, as it affects numerous variables throughout the game that the equipment manager has to think about ahead of time. They are responsible to keep enough dry balls during the football game. Renard also has to determine how many pairs of cleats to pack in case the players will need to switch.

Renard and his team have to consider taking the visors off of players’ helmets. If it rains, the water sticks to the visor making it difficult to see. These are decisions that may be made with short notice, and require the equipment manager to adapt quickly.

“You have to be able to balance a lot of different things because you’re getting pulled in six differ ent directions every single day,” Renard said.

CONTRIBUTED BY AUBURN ATHLETICS

Tyler Renard (back right) poses with all of Auburn football’s equipment managers.

CONTRIBUTED BY AUBURN ATHLETICS Tyler Renard takes the field during a home game at Auburn.

Adaptive Recreation preprares for upcoming season

By DIANE PHAM News Writer

Jared Ryan, the first disabled adapted student athlete at Auburn, started the wheelchair tennis team in 2009. The program quickly grew to include a wheelchair basketball team, making Auburn one of 13 universities with a competitive wheelchair basketball team. Any student with a permanent lower body disability is welcome to join the competitive teams.

After their rapid growth, there became a need for outside support, resulting in the formation of the adaptive recreation and athletics club, said Rob Taylor, head coach of the wheelchair basketball team and advisor of the club.

With the mission to support Auburn’s Adapted Athletics teams, the

group assists with running events, selling merchandise, creating media and anything else the teams may need.

“It’s a lot of stuff that really helps the team that seems more behind the scenes,” Taylor said. “[For] home tennis matches... having volunteers come out and help shag balls or keep points or help with water, stuff like that is always important.”

In the past, the club has collaborated with other sports across campus to organize charity events, such as sock drives, and raise awareness for their cause.

“In the past we’ve had some swimmers that have come out… and participated with us in practice,” said Taylor. “They jumped in a wheelchair and we put them through a wheelchair basketball conditioning workout.”

“Our program is definitely growing and our team is definitely getting better and better every year,” Sophie Livaudais said, junior in special education as well as president and social media manager of the club.

Livadais hopes that the club will find people who want to volunteer while learning more about adaptive sports.

This year, the wheelchair basketball team will be competing in their first home tournament on Oct. 16th. Taylor hopes people will come watch and see classic sports played in a different way they might not be used to.

In the future, Taylor aims to start adapted soccer and golf teams, or any other sport students may want.

“We’re very open to supporting the students in whatever sport they want to try.”

Luke Robinson during the game between Auburn and UTA at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum.

CONTRIBUTED BY SHANNA LOCKWOOD/AU ATHLETICS

Auburn fans call for changes to ‘worrisome’ stairs of Jordan-Hare Stadium

By NOAH GRIFFITH Assistant Sports Editor

Ever since she was a baby, going to football games in Jordan-Hare Stadium has been a family tradition for 42-year-old Lindsay McDonald.

She grew up going to watch her father, Johnny McDonald, play for Auburn. After her father retired from football, he joined Lindsay and her mom watching the games from the stands, but now he watches from home.

Lindsay and her mom still attend the games, but getting to their seats is an ordeal now. Lindsay walks slowly one step in front of her 73-year old mom, while she clings onto Lindsay for dear life. Lindsay glances down periodically to make sure her mom’s feet are climbing the stairs safely.

Her mom suffers from neuropathy and has trouble sensing where her limbs are in space, but she continues to brave the stairs for her beloved Tigers. After all, that is what she’s been doing on Saturdays for over 40 years.

But her husband, Lindsay’s dad, isn’t as fortunate. He has a bad knee from his days on the football field. Climbing the steep, rail-less stairs in Jordan-Hare Stadium simply isn’t worth risking a fall onto the hard concrete. Besides, Lindsay only has so many arms to hold onto.

Unfortunately, the story of the McDonald family’s troubles with the stairs in the stadium isn’t a unique one.

Fans of all ages and backgrounds have struggled to travel up and down the stairs of Jordan-Hare Stadium. According to 55-year-old Auburn football season ticket holder Lynn Jones, fans maneuvering the steps is a “mistake waiting to

happen.”

Fans with physical ailments who are brave enough to attend games often rely on others to help them with the stairs. Getting up to go to the bathroom, get food or drinks or venture around the stadium is like a kid maneuvering a jungle gym.

“I have seen total strangers go out of their way every game to help [people up the stairs], but I mean, I don’t want to fall on somebody,” said 53-year-old Auburn alumna Carolyn Thomley. “I don’t want to fall period, but I certainly don’t want to take other people out when I go.”

Despite a statement from Auburn Athletics saying that accessibility is something they prioritize, fans have still voiced safety concerns as a result of the “worrisome” stairs in the stadium.

“Auburn University prioritizes accessibility within all its facilities, and Jordan-Hare Stadium is no different,” said Auburn football Sports Information Director Kirk Sampson on behalf of the Athletics Department. “Handrails are located throughout the stadium to assist fans with maneuvering stairs. Some areas may contain single handrails to ensure safe ingress and egress for all attendees.”

The e-mail went on to say that attendees can contact Stadium Control (334-844-2807) or Text Assist (334-5914357) if accessibility issues arise.

“Auburn remains committed to responding to the needs of its guests and to ensuring accessibility for all,” Sampson said.

However, fans have voiced frustration and concern that there are no handrails to grab and, according to fans, the

low traction and the lack of color changes to the stairs’ paint coating to help with visibility makes slipping easy, especially when it is wet.

“I think they need to, maybe not have an entire railing go down, but at each step maybe have one of those rounded handles. Something for people to grab onto if they start to fall,” Jones said. “There’s just not anything to hold onto except for each other. We’ve seen, especially a lot of older people, just fall and tumble down the stairs.”

Children, students and elderly fans who have been attending Auburn games for years all have the same dilemma: the options are to attend games and struggle with the stairs or miss out on game day in Jordan Hare.

Auburn senior in rehabilitation and disability studies, Maegan Johnson, feels isolated by her difficulties using the stairs. She wants to sit and enjoy the football games with her sorority or with the EAGLES program, but because she has to rely on her friends to help her up the stairs, she opted out of buying student tickets in her second year at Auburn.

For Johnson, the stair issues strip away her independence and make her feel like she causes others trouble.

“There are no rails going downstairs, so I was never able to sit with my friends because it was a struggle to walk down stairs,” Johnson said. “I’d have to hold onto a friend, and that scared me because if I fell, she would fall with me.”

While freshman in genetics pre-med, Mia Deaton, offered a solution for students to submit a concern to Auburn Answers for SGA to attempt to resolve the issue, this is an issue that has more far-reaching effects that primarily students.

Lindsay McDonald helps her mom up the stairs to their seats in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

CALLIE STANFORD | SPORTS EDITOR

SGA deals with any issues that involve Auburn’s campus, so how much they can fix this accessibility issue for all of Auburn is unknown.

However, for fans like Jones and her family, Auburn Answers is not an available resource.

As she and her husband venture up to row 10 of section 16, she hangs onto her husband, and her 8-year old granddaughter trails just behind, slowly advancing one step at a time and glancing down at her feet in between steps. The girl has no mobility issues and no disability, but she is still “terrified” of falling, Jones said.

Jones is from Milton, Florida, and she and her husband have been traveling down for Auburn home games for about 14 years. The couple has season tickets, and she said attending Auburn games would “basically become a new experience” with the addition of stair rails.

“[Making changes to the stairs] would be great,” Jones said. “It would definitely improve

the

quality of our experience if we could make sure that we could get up and down the stairs safely, get up the ramp, and get faster access to food and water.”

What seems to frustrate fans the most is the lack of knowledge on the requirements in the Americans with Disabilities Act for Jordan Hare — for some, there has to be a reason why rails are not already there, but that reason is unknown by the public.

The Plainsman attempted to call different ADA leaders in Alabama and contact people in the Auburn Athletics Department about the issue, but received no response except Sampson’s e-mail.

“I don’t see how there could be a possible bad outcome of putting in rails,” Thomley said. “Am I missing something? What’s the down side?... I could see somebody saying ‘Hey, I fell. I’m suing.’ I don’t know what would be cheaper: to settle that or to put some rails in.”

JACOB WATERS | SPORTS REPORTER

The stairs in Jordan-Hare Stadium have given fans trouble.

CALLIE STANFORD | PHOTO EDITOR

Auburn senior Mckenzie Gay (left) and Auburn senior Natalie Sawyer (right) take a trip down the stairs of Jordan-Hare Stadium before the LSU game.

Small town to the big leagues: A journey to one of the biggest stages in sports

By KRISTEN CARR Operations Editor

It’s a Tuesday night and Will Herring is exactly where he wants to be — on the foot ball field. This time, it’s in a different capacity. He’s there as a dad and a coach.

Born and raised in the Opelika-Auburn area, Herring grew up an Auburn fan, even though neither of his parents went to the university. For him, there was no NFL, no other team on the radar; it was just Alabama or Auburn. Not in his wildest dreams did he think he would get the opportunity to be a part of it all.

“It was a dream come true when Auburn offered me a scholarship,’’ Herring said. “I felt like I had stole something. I was just ecstatic.”

THE INCEPTION

When he was young, Herring loved sports, but he wasn’t always a lover of football.

“Honestly, basketball and baseball were my first loves, as far as sports go,” Herring said. “I played football in the fourth grade and hated it. I did not play in the fifth grade or the sixth grade.”

Things took a different turn for Herring in the seventh grade, when Herring’s foot ball coaches convinced him to go back out on the field for the football team.

Davis Lambert, a friend of Herring’s, has known him since he was in kindergarten and Herring was in the first grade. Lambert and Herring grew up together and estab

lished a tight bond through their love of sports.

“He was good in all sports: basketball, baseball, and football… but he was very hum ble. He was a good dude to everybody. He was a good guy. I felt like everybody liked Will, flocked to Will. I guess you could call him that All-American type of guy, so to speak.”

As Herring developed as an athlete at Opelika High School, the university down the road began to take notice. He was a quarterback all the way through middle school and highschool, but Auburn University saw his potential in other areas and offered him a scholarship as an athlete.

“He was a lifelong Auburn fan,” Lambert said. “He didn’t actually tell me that he wanted to go to Auburn or go anywhere else or play quarterback. But just from know ing Will, I felt like he truly wanted to go to Auburn and once he had that opportuni ty, I felt like… he was going to do that.”

As Lambert predicted, Herring accepted Auburn’s scholarship offer and was red shirted his freshman year. While at Auburn, he played on special teams and on de fense, officially switching to linebacker his fifth year.

THE DRAFT

The future for Herring was uncertain as he finished up his time at Auburn. During the months between the end of the season and the draft, Lambert and Herring worked

Ole Miss vs Auburn in Auburn, Ala., on Saturday, October 29, 2005

CONTRIBUTED BY TODD VAN EMST/ AUBURN ATHLETICS

out together in preparation for Pro Day.

“He wanted to get drafted,” Lambert said. “He was hopeful. Of course, you know, again, he’s being humble. He’s not sitting there saying, ‘I’m going [to get drafted]’ I feel like deep down he felt like he had an opportunity and a shot at it. He just wasn’t sure where that would be.”

Four rounds of the NFL Draft came and went, and still there was no word. Herring was at his parents house in Opelika with his family and girlfriend at the time, now wife, Ashley when the phone finally rang.

“I remember getting the call on draft day. That was just an experience that I’ll never forget,” he said. “I just felt like, you know, there’s no way in the world that this is like actually happening to me. What a blessing it was.”

The Seattle Seahawks drafted Herring as a linebacker, 161st overall.The next step was moving over 2,000 miles away from the only town he’d ever known to begin training camp in August.

THE FIGHT

Training camp for Herring consisted of about three weeks of heat, grueling work and practice all combined with the uncertainty of his position on the team. At Seattle, Herring was a part of training camps that started with close to 100 people and were narrowed down to 53 by the end of camp.

“I was a guy that might get drafted, might not, you know. Might make the team, might not. And so every training camp I went into every August, you know every roster that I showed up to was like, ‘Your jobs are on the line and you need to prove yourself to make the team,’” Herring said.

Even amidst all the uncertainty, Herring cemented his position as a leader on the team by his conduct towards his teammates. While some veterans on the team kept to themselves, Herring chose a different path.

“I wanted to be a guy that looked out for the younger guys, even if it cost me my job. I wanted to be a guy that would help,” Herring said.

THE NEW FAMILY

During the offseason after his first year in Seattle, Herring married his fiancé, Ashley. Now in Seattle together, the newlyweds solidified themselves as a family unit and depended on each other even more because of the distance from their fam ilies and loved ones.

“We met some awesome people that are still are like pretty much family today. Different people just kind of became our family,” Ashley Herring said.

“That was just a neat experience for us. But, you know I just tried to be the biggest cheerleader that I could be to support him.”

Ashley Herring also noted that their faith was a big part of their experience keep ing them “grounded” in the different culture that they were plunged into.

THE NEW AMBITION

After his 2014 season with the St. Louis Rams and his eighth season in the NFL, Herring made the decision to retire. The hits, old injuries, and demanding schedule had taken a toll on Herring, pushing him to step away from football.

“What I would give to do it again. I would love to play again, but my body just won’t let me,” he said. “The Lord made it apparent to me, like, it’s time to hang it up.”

Even though Herring still cherishes the time he had in the NFL, he is at peace with the decision to leave and turn his focus to his wife and two young daughters. Au burn’s charm drew him back and he and his wife both consider it a perfect place to raise their growing family.

“When I was a little kid, I knew I want to be a dad when I grow up and I want to be a good husband to my wife and to have those overlap while I was playing foot ball, when I stepped away from football like I had something to focus all my enery toward.” Herring said.

Now that Herring is back in Auburn, he and Lambert are back to their old hab its and work out together three times a week. Both Herring and Lambert are avid hunters and their love for the outdoors has also kept the pair in friendly competi tion through the years.

“We’re actually closer now than we’ve ever been so that’s pretty ironic, you know, growing up and staying in touch the way we have.”

As a father, Herring’s role has evolved over the years when he and Ashley adopt ed their son, Isaiah, who is now 7 years old. They are currently fostering a little girl as well.

These days, you can find Herring with a piece of paper drawn into six sections with X’s and O’s scribbled down in pen — all plays drawn out for his 7-year-old son’s flag football games.

“He’s a great coach and I love watching him do this. But I also love watching Isaiah love the sport that his dad loves,” Ashley Herring said.

Isaiah Herring described that his favorite part about playing football was “play ing on offense”. He also likes how he can see all his friends and have fun with them through the sport.

In addition to his role as a father and husband, Herring also works as a loan officer for CMG Home Loans. A large motivation for his current job is his desire to help peo ple and make a difference in his community. Herring says that if you asked one of his kids what their dad does for work, they would say, “He helps people get into houses.”

As Herring continues to further both his career and his impact in the community, the lessons he’s learned of hard work, community, faith and determination amidst all of life’s challenges ring true.

Will Herring and Isaiah Herring at a flag football game in Auburn Ala., on September 20, 2022

KRISTEN CARR | OPERATIONS EDITOR

WINGS organization seeks to support female student-athletes

By ETHAN FLYNN News Writer

When the Auburn women’s volleyball team played their first game at Memphis State in 1966, they pur chased blue t-shirts from a bookstore and demarked their numbers with tape.

By 2002, the Auburn women’s swim and diving team had won the univer sity’s first women’s Nation al Collegiate Athletic Asso ciation championship. By 2019, Auburn women had secured 12 of the 22 NCAA national championships earned by the university.

The success of female student-athletes at Auburn made some think there should be a space for people to support women’s athlet ics specifically, according to Assistant Athletic Director of Student-Athlete Experi ence and WINGS Codirec tor Megan Hooshyar.

Auburn’s Women Inspir ing & Nurturing Greatness in Student-Athletes, is a philan thropic undertaking dedicated to supporting female stu dent-athletes.

Housed under the Tigers Unlimited umbrella, WINGS enables donors to support women’s sports pro grams at Auburn University directly.

However, WINGS is more than a booster club.

“A big facet for us right now is enhancing the stu dent-athlete experience. So not just jerseys, not just fa cility upgrades, but what are we pouring into during a student-athlete’s time here?” said Lindsay Neubarth Jab kiewicz, Director of Athletic Development and WINGS Codirector. “From a WINGS perspective, what can we do for our females to really set them up for success as they enter the workforce and as they become a future Auburn woman?”

Continuing education is core to the WINGS mission to enhance the student-athlete experience, a principle established by the program’s founder Meredith Jenkins, former Associate Athletics Director Meredith Jenkins.

Jenkins herself broke through a glass ceiling when she was appointed the first female Sports Information Di

rector for football in the SEC in 1999.

“One of the things that we are very intentional about is ensuring we are always able to support post-graduate educational opportunities. That is something WINGS was born out of,” Hooshyar said.

WINGS has given $72,000 in post-graduate scholar ships and has already raised $62,000 through the Mer edith Jenkins Fund for Excellence, established in 2021.

Post-graduate contributions support the future of fe male student-athletes at Auburn, but the mentoring net work established by WINGS enriches their present.

In addition to direct financial support, WINGS pro vides an opportunity for its members to mentor stu dent-athletes pursuing employment in the same in dustry where the member has been or is currently em ployed.

Each spring, WINGS hosts a membership event where professionals can meet with their athletes, of ten one-on-one depending on the demand for a specif ic profession. Mentors are often at the peak of their ca reers. However, the program needs professionals at ev ery level to help students map a career trajectory.

“It started with women at the highest level of their profession,” Jabkiewicz said. “While that is wonder ful, and we’re always looking for the CEOs and admin istrators, what we found is that to truly benefit the stu dent-athletes, it helps to have men and women in all

walks of their profession.”

Although WINGS occasionally makes the typical booster-style contributions, such as improving athlet ic fields, or purchasing equipment, they also seek expe riences for their student-athletes. For example, in 2019, WINGS funded a trip for the women’s basketball team to play several European teams in Italy, the first trip of its kind since 2012. “The real benefit of WINGS, in all honesty, is that it allows us to support our teams, often times in ways that they were not aware they would need support as they are budget ing,” Hooshyar said.

2022 is an important year for women’s athletics pro grams across the country.

On Jun. 23, 1972, Title IX became law, and this year marks the 50th anniversa ry of the legislation. Though the bill does not directly re fer to women in athletics, it does guarantee access to competitive opportunities for women not previously protected.

WINGS has a natural leadership role in the celebra tion of Title IX, but WINGS helps Auburn set a standard in supporting women in sports for other universities to follow.

“This year, there are a lot of universities across the country and athletics departments across the country,” Jabkiewicz said, “That are using this 50th celebration as the impetus for beginning their own female focus pro gram, whereas we did not have to do that. We have been doing that for over a decade.”

WINGS builds a supportive and holistic environment for the female student-athletes of Auburn to succeed anywhere they compete. However, their support does not end when the buzzer sounds off.

Through post-graduate education support, mentor ship and sponsoring experiential opportunities, WINGS augments the student-athlete experience for women.

WINGS helps women at Auburn win championships, and Auburn loves to win.

“I think that’s the greatest thing about the Auburn family. They love big, and they’re willing to put time, ef fort and resources into the things they love,” Jabkiewicz said.

LARRY ROBINSON | PHOTOGRAPHER

After Georgia Tech win Xaira Wiggins (L) and Kiyae’ White (R) embrace.

TIGERS LOOKING TO BUILD ON RECORD-BREAKING 2021 SEASON

By William Halliday Sports Writer

Basketball season is just days away and with it comes a flurry of activity and excite ment in Auburn.

The Tigers kicked off practice Sept. 27. The Tigers will play their non-conference games up until three quarters of the way through December, with headline games such as Memphis, USC and Washington set before they start their SEC schedule with a home game against Florida.

Auburn opened its first week of practice with a set of interviews with head coach Bruce Pearl, guards Zep Jasper and K.D. Johnson, and forward Johni Broome.

“The question is: have the returning players improved enough from year one, two or three, depending on where they are, for us to be able to compete for the SEC Cham pionship again? Will Johni and Yohan (Traore) be able to fill in? Because they’re go ing to get a lot of the minutes that Walker (Kessler) and Jabari (Smith) got, and what is that going to be like?” Pearl said. “I love my depth, I like the chemistry, I like the work ethic, and obviously we had a great summer as far as Israel is concerned.”

Alongside Pearl in previewing the season, Johnson was asked if he believes the team can compete for an SEC championship again.

“Most definitely, we got a lot of players such as Yohan, he’s new to fill in the four spot. Dylan (Cardwell), he ascertains his body around a lot, y’all should see him. J-Will, he’s coming along all the way right,” Johnson said. “We’ve got a lot of people that’s got something in store for y’all in the new season.”

Jasper is already looking ahead to Georgia and Missouri, when he plans to see some familiar faces from home.

“I’ve got some hometown friends that’s on their team now. I’m pretty tight with those guys. It’s their first year in the SEC and they’re pretty hype to play me,” Jasper said. “They’ve never been in the Jungle before. I told him we got the best home court advantage in the nation. And you know they’re excited to see me and I’m excited to see them.”

The Tigers, who earned their first No. 1 ranking in program history last year and won the regular season SEC Championship, aim to build on a great season and seem to have a compelling team to watch and schedule to look forward to.

12/28/22 vs Florida: 6 p.m. (ESPN2)

The Tigers are 4-6 in their last 10 matchups with Florida. With the departure of Mike White, the Gators have a new head coach in Todd Golden who is coming in from the University of San Fran cisco.

1/7/23 vs Arkansas: 7:30 p.m. CST (SEC Newtork)

The Razorbacks lost two of their top players to the NBA from last year’s Elight Eight team in JD Notae and Jay lin Williams. However, they will be coming into this game with the No. 2 overall recruit ing class.

1/14/22 vs Mississippi State: 7:30 p.m. CST (SEC Network)

Chris Jans from New Mexi co State comes in to replace Ben Howland as the coach of the Bulldogs this season. What was one of State’s most talented ros ters, last year turned out to be a lost season in the NIT.

1/21/23 @ South Carolina: 2:30 p.m. CST (SEC Network)

The Gamecocks lost five of their top six leading scorers from last season and have a new head coach in Lamont Paris, for merly head coach at University of Chattanooga.

1/4/23 @ Georgia: 5:30 p.m. CST (SEC Network)

With Tom Crean out at Georgia, Mike White from Florida comes in to replace him and try to get the program win ning again. Kario Oquendo was the Bulldogs’ leading scorer last year, averaging 15.2 points per game.

1/10/23 @ Ole Miss: 8 p.m. CST (ESPN2/ESPNU)

Ole Miss was the second worst scoring offense in the conference last season with 68.1 points per game. The Tigers won both their games last year against the Rebels.

1/18/23 @ LSU: 6 p.vm. CST (ESPN2/ESPNU)

The Tigers won this game last year with their defense. They held LSU to 55 points and forced 17 turnovers. The Bayou Ben gals are coming in with a new team and head coach in Matt McMahon from Murray State.

1/25/23 vs Texas A&M: 8 p.m. CST (ESPN2/ESPNU)

The Tigers’ most recent matchup with the Aggies was in the SEC Tournament, in what was a first-round 67-62 upset for Auburn. This was a game that saw Auburn struggle early, with only a few players playing well the entire game.

Dylan Cardwell celerates after becoming SEC regular season champ at Neville Arena on March 2022.

1/28/23 @ West Virginia: 11 a.m. CST (Big 12/SEC Challenge)

Just last year, Auburn defeated Oklahoma 86-68 in its home ver sion of this game but now must hit the road in 2022. The Tigers are 2-1 against the Mountain eers, most recently winning 8459 back in 1985.

2/11/23 vs Alabama: 1 p.m. CST (ESPN/ESPN2)

This rivalry game is some thing Auburn fans always look forward to. Last year, the Ti gers got the better of the Tide in both games, winning by double digits in each. Their defense was to thank in both those games.

2/18/23 @ Vanderbilt: 7:30 p.m. CST (SEC Network)

The Commodores lost their star player and All-SEC selec tion Scotty Pippen Jr. to the NBA Draft this offseason and are looking to some younger players to pick up the offensive production.

3/8/23-3/12/23 SEC Tour nament

The tournament will be held in Nashville, Tenn. this year. Last season, the Tigers quali fied as the No. 1 seed but fell in the quarterfinals to Texas A&M.

2/4/23 @ Tennessee: 1 p.m. CST (ESPN/ESPN2)

The Vols return this season with a core of seniors led by San tiago Vescovi and Josiah-Jordan James. They were the SEC tTour nament Champions last year and lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

2/14/23 vs Missouri: 6 p.m. CST (ESPN/ESPN2)

Last year’s matchup almost saw Missouri upset the Tigers, as they would only win by one, 55-54. K.D. Johnson made sure they wouldn’t lose that game, as he went on to score 17 points in the game.

2/25/23 @ Kentucky: 3 p.m. CST (CBS)

Last year’s game against Kentucky drew a lot of hype around Auburn’s campus and ended up being a big win. The Tigers scored 51 of their 80 points in the second half to pull out the win.

3/14/23- 4/3/23 NCAA Tournament

This year’s first NCAA Tour nament will begin in mid March and the national championship will be played in Houston, Tex as.

The

MATTHEW POCZATEK | PHOTOGRAPHER

MATTHEW POCZATEK | PHOTOGRAPHER

MATTHEW POCZATEK | PHOTOGRAPHER Auburn men’s basketball celebrates after winning an SEC reg ular season championship.

Dylan Cardwell celerates after becoming SEC regular sea son champion.