< PreviousOfficial Smoked Sausage and Hot Dog of the Auburn Tigers ® True southern flavor since 1947. Made in Evergreen Alabama. - 1 lb. Conecuh Smoked Sausage - Hot dog buns - BBQ sauce, warmed - Grilled Peppers and Onions - Sauerkraut - Sweet Dill Relish - Ketchup, Mayonnaise, Mustard Conecuh Sausage dogs are perfect for tailgating with your favorite team when the game is on, or anytime! Grill sausage on all sides until done, pop it in a warm bun and add your favorite toppings. Make sure you have plenty of sausage - and napkins - on hand for seconds (and thirds)! CONECUH SAUSAGE DOG 800-726-0507 ConecuhSausage.com‘A FAMILY LIKE THAT’ ‘A FAMILY LIKE THAT’ 21 Two hours before kickoff, there were fans everywhere along Donahue Drive for Tiger Walk. The students started filling into Jordan-Hare Stadium even earlier and roared when Carnell Wil- liams walked on to the field for the first time. The moment Williams walked his team out of the tunnel before kickoff, it was deafening. It stayed that way until long after the final whistle. The Auburn Family showed up in a big way last Saturday to support Williams in his first home game as inter- im head coach, and he will forever be thankful for that. But the part of the weekend that resonated with Williams the most was seeing his former teammates on the sideline. They, too, showed up in a big way to support their brother. “It meant everything to me,” Wil- liams said. “We all came to Auburn together not knowing what to expect. We fought – from the workouts to the hardships, from the losing to the winning, to the heartbreaks, to always being at each other’s weddings. To have a moment where you’re the head guy and then to have the support and your friends come back and all the love, it’s just overwhelming. I’m so blessed to have friends, to have a family like that, that truly supports me and wants to see me succeed.” “That was my favorite part about Saturday, to be honest with you.” When Williams was first named interim head coach, Carlos Rog- ers laughed. He couldn’t believe it. “They really named you the next head coach?” Rogers asked his former team- mate and roommate. But Rogers, a consensus All-Ameri- can in 2004, knew there was no better man for the job. “He made history,” Rogers said. “Be- ing the first African American to coach Auburn. It means so much to me, and it means so much to him. And it means so much to the Auburn Family. Of course, they want to see the players play, but all these fans want to see Carnell. It’s like he’s still playing. It’s an unbelievable thing.” “He’s made for this,” added former Auburn linebacker Karlos Dansby. “He’s home-grown. He knows what Auburn means. It means more to him to be in that position, and it’s a blessing. The AUBURNTIGERS.COM BY GREG OSTENDORF Carnell Williams overwhelmed by support from Auburn teammatesPROUD PARTNER Get the right defense for the right price. Switch and save with Allstate. Based on average annual savings of new customers surveyed in 2021 who reported auto savings when switching to Allstate. In most states, prices vary based on how you buy. © 2022 Allstate Insurance Company, 3100 Sanders Road, Northbrook, IL 60062. Marks are registered trademarks of their respective owners.‘A FAMILY LIKE THAT’ 23 AUBURNTIGERS.COM ‘A FAMILY LIKE THAT’ energy is just crazy right now. I’m loving every second of it.” On Saturday, Rogers and Dansby were on the sideline before the game catching up with the likes of Devin Aromashodu, Ronnie Brown, Jason Campbell, Will Herring, Marcus Mc- Neill and Ben Obomanu just to name a few. It was like a reunion of the teams from the early 2000s. It had been about three years since James Swinton had been back to Au- burn for a game, but the former wide receiver who played with Williams made sure he was in attendance Saturday. “For me, it’s pretty amazing,” Swinton said. “I just know the energy Cadillac had when he was playing here at Auburn, and I feel like for it to come around full circle to where he’s having that chance to coach and be the head coach of this great university, I’m just so happy for him. There are not many words to say how I feel. “This is one of the reasons why I came back down. To see him here and him being able to get these troops energized back up, I love it. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” Not that Williams needed any help getting his team ready to play Sat- urday, but he got it from his former teammates who were in the locker room before the game hyping up the current players before they took the field. Afterwards, they were all in there celebrating together. “I’m just happy for Caddy,” Auburn senior Colby Wooden said after the game. “The way all of Auburn came out, how his former teammates came back and were with us – they were ready to go play with us. They brought back the true meaning of what it means to be an Auburn Tiger.” Former Auburn offensive lineman Cole Cubelic was also there Saturday, serving as the sideline reporter for SEC Network. Cubelic and Williams missed each other by a year at Auburn, but there’s still a connection there, a frater- nity they both belong to. So, the week before at Mississippi State when Cubelic conducted the first TV interview with Williams as the interim head coach at Auburn, it was a moment he will never forget. “For him to be the first African American head coach in Auburn football history, for me to have the first question on television with him before he went out and took that team on the field, and then just his pause right before he answered was really all I needed,” Cubelic said. “Honestly, it’s about as emotional as I have been in an interview I have done. “I can’t imagine anything that I will do will be more special than that. For a lot of obvious reasons – the history with him involved, me having played at Au- burn – it seemed everything just kind of aligned right there. It was a pretty amazing moment.” Saturday night in Jordan-Hare Stadium did not disappoint either. Rather than ride over with his counter- parts, Cubelic left 15 minutes early and walked from the hotel to the stadium to take in all the fans and the atmosphere around campus. He had his family there with him. It was the first Auburn game for his two youngest kids. Cubelic knew it would be a special night because of the love for Carnell Williams. “There’s just a lot of support for him, how beloved he was,” Cubelic said. “I think how genuine he is brings a lot of that out. And two, I think it shows how hungry Auburn fans are for anything positive and wanting to see things be turned around.” Before the game Saturday, Dansby looked around in awe at all the fans in a sold-out Jordan-Hare Stadium “This is how it’s supposed to be,” he said. “This is exactly how it’s supposed to be. To see it like this, it’s incredible. I knew it was going to be big, but to see (Williams) like that in this position, it’s perfect timing for him.”INTERIM HEAD COACH CARNELL WILLIAMS 27 Carnell ‘Cadillac’ Williams, a former all-American at Auburn, was named the interim head football coach on October 31, 2022. Williams is in his fourth season as the Tigers’ running backs coach. As a player at Auburn, Williams helped lead the Tigers to an unde- feated season in 2004 while earning All-America honors that year. The 2005 NFL Rookie of the Year, Williams had a seven-year NFL career before entering the coaching ranks. A native of Gadsden, Alabama, and product of Etowah High School, Williams finished his Auburn career (2001-04) with 3,831 yards on 741 attempts with 45 touchdowns. He broke the Auburn career record of most run- ning attempts, passing Joe Cribbs, and most touchdowns scored, passing Bo Jackson, while finishing second in total rushing yards and all-purpose yards. As a senior in 2004, Williams helped lead the Tigers to one of the best sea- sons in program history, winning an SEC Championship en route to a perfect 13-0 season and a Sugar Bowl victory. He led Auburn in rushing with 1,165 yards and 12 touchdowns while tally- ing 1,718 all-purpose yards. He earned All-America honors, was the SEC Spe- cial Teams Player of the Year, and named to the All-SEC team. In his four seasons at Auburn, Wil- liams earned nine SEC Player of the Week honors, the most in league history. During his time on the Plains, the Tigers were 37-14 and won three SEC Western Division titles (2001, ‘02, ‘04). He re- mains as Auburn’s No. 2 all-time rushing and is the Tigers’ career leader in rush- ing attempts and rushing touchdowns. The fifth pick overall pick of the 2005 NFL draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Williams was named the NFL Rookie of the Year after leading all rookies in rushing yards with 1,178, while posting six 100-yard rushing games in 14 starts. Williams spent six seasons with Tampa Bay before spending his final season in 2011 with the St. Louis Rams. After being slowed by injuries for sev- eral years, Williams was narrowly edged for the AP 2009 Comeback Player of the Year Award by Tom Brady, finishing second after rushing for 821 yards on 210 carries with a 3.9 average and four touchdowns during the 2009 season. Williams finished his NFL career with 4,038 yards with 21 touchdowns and 148 receptions for 1,002 yards and four scores. Under Williams’ tutelage in 2020, freshman running back Tank Bigsby was named the SEC Co-Freshman of the Year and Associated Press SEC Newcomer of the Year after leading all freshmen in the conference with 834 rushing yards. Bigsby was the first Auburn freshman in school history to rush for three con- secutive 100-yard games and his 834 yards were the second most all-time at Auburn by a rookie. During his first season in 2019, the Tigers posted five 100-yard rushing games and D.J. Williams earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors for his performance against LSU. In two sea- sons, Williams’ backs have tallied nine AUBURNTIGERS.COM CARNELL WILLIAMS INTERIM HEAD COACH® FAVORITE CHIP OF THE @GOLDENFLAKE @GOLDEN_FLAKE @GOLDEN_FLAKE WWW.GOLDENFLAKE.COM | WWW.UTZSNACKS.COMINTERIM HEAD COACH CARNELL WILLIAMS 29 100-yard games and three SEC weekly honors. Williams’ coaching career started at Henderson State in 2015 where he served as the running backs coach. After a stint at the University of West Georgia in 2016, Williams was the running backs coach for IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida for two seasons (2017-18). Williams also served as the running backs coach for the Birming- ham Iron of the Alliance of American Football (AAF). Williams graduated from Auburn in December 2014. He and his wife Evan Williams have two boys: Cole and Cuinn. AUBURNTIGERS.COM WILLIAMS AT A GLANCE Personal Hometown: Gadsden, Alabama Wife: Evan Children: sons: Cole, Cuinn College: Auburn University (2014) Playing Experience: Auburn University (2001-04) Tampa Bay Buccaneers [NFL] (2005-10) St. Louis Rams [NFL] (2011) Coaching Experience 2022-current: Auburn Interim Head Coach/Running Backs/ Recruiting Coordinator 2019-2022: Auburn Running Backs/Recruiting Coordinator 2018: Birmingham Iron (AAF) Running Backs 2017: IMG Academy Running Backs 2016: West Georgia Offensive Graduate Assistant Bowl Experience Coach: 2020 Outback Bowl 2021 Citrus Bowl 2021 Birmingham Bowl Player: 2001 Peach Bowl 2003 Capital One Bowl 2003 Music City Bowl 2005 Sugar BowlNext >