< PreviousSTATS COMPARISONS AUBURN STATS LEADER RUSHING ATT NET AVG TD LONG AVG/G Jarquez Hunter 50 202 4.0 2 19 50.5 Payton Thorne 45 198 4.4 2 61 39.6 Brian Battie 30 152 5.1 0 24 30.4 PASSING CMP-ATT-INT PCT YDS TD AVG/G Payton Thorne 59-94-4 62.8 643 4 128.6 Robby Ashford 8-18-0 44.4 71 1 14.2 Holden Geriner 4-9-0 44.4 67 0 33.5 RECEIVING NO. YDS AVG TD LONG AVG/G Jay Fair 18 196 10.9 2 36 39.2 Rivaldo Fairweather 15 145 9.7 1 41 29.0 Shane Hooks 8 106 13.3 1 32 21.2 DEFENSE UA A TOT TFL-YDS SACKS-YDS Eugene Asante 24 11 35.0 4.0-24 2.0-17 Larry Nixon III 13 10 23.0 1.5-11 0.0-0 Marcus Harris 12 7 19.0 5.0-12 2.0-6 Donovan Kaufman 12 7 19.0 3.5-11 1.0-6 LSU STATS LEADER RUSHING ATT NET AVG TD LONG AVG/G Logan Diggs 81 488 6.0 4 34 97.6 Jayden Daniels 75 422 5.6 4 55 70.3 Josh Williams 17 155 9.1 1 41 25.8 PASSING CMP-ATT-INT PCT YDS TD AVG/G Jayden Daniels 132-181-2 72.6 1,969 19 328.2 Garrett Nussmeier 5-11-0 45.5 54 0 18.0 RECEIVING NO. YDS AVG TD LONG AVG/G Malik Nabers 46 771 16.8 6 48 128.5 Brian Thomas Jr. 37 603 16.3 9 75 100.5 Kyren Lacy 9 169 18.8 2 38 28.2 DEFENSE UA A TOT TFL-YDS SACKS-YDS Major Burns 17 25 42.0 1.0-3 1.0-3 Andre Sam 26 15 41.0 1.0-2 0.0-0 Greg Penn III 15 25 40.0 1.5-5 1.0-5 Here is a quick look at the top team statistics for the Tigers and LSU. Quick Look n Total Touchdowns 1935 n Rushing Yards 1,0101,264 n Passing Yards 7812,026 20 STATS COMPARISONS AUBURNTIGERS.COM® FAVORITE CHIP OF THE22 THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED In the fall of 2020, in the middle of a pandemic, Marcus Harris was a redshirt freshman at Kansas – more than 800 miles from his hometown of Montgom- ery. Jayson Jones was even further away. He spent the 2020 season as a freshman at Oregon – more than 2,500 miles from where he grew up in Calera, Alabama. This season, the duo has started every single game next to each other on the defensive line at Auburn. Both are back in their home state. Both are making the most of their opportunity. But neither Harris nor Jones would undo the past and their decision to leave home. “That helped me grow up and be- come a young man,” Harris said. “Being that far away helped me live on my own and become my own person and find new friends and people I never knew from different walks of life and different cultures. It just opened my mind up to different things and how big the world really is.” “I’m glad I went out to Oregon,” add- ed Jones. “First of all, I loved Oregon. There was nothing wrong with Oregon. I grew up. I had to grow up because I was living by myself. That really helped me, especially coming back home and be- ing very dependent. When I came back here, ‘OK, I’m closer to home, but you know how to operate by yourself.’” It was the road less traveled for Har- ris and Jones coming out of high school. But the road led them both back to Au- burn where they are now thriving on and off the field. Despite growing up down the road from Auburn, Harris never thought he’d get the opportunity to play for the Tigers. Kansas and Washington State were his only two Power 5 offers. So, one can un- derstand why the senior defensive line- man still gets goosebumps every time he plays at Jordan-Hare Stadium. “It amazes me still to this day when I go on the football field on Saturdays, es- pecially at Jordan-Hare,” Harris said. “I’ll just be like, ‘Wow, I’m really here. This is what I dreamed about. These are the games I used to come here and watch.’ It just feels surreal, like an out- of-body experience. At the same time, you’ve got to go against the opponent and the big guys on the other team, so you’ve got to snap back out of it real quick. “But knowing that I played in the same stadi- um as guys like Nick Fair- ley, Derrick Brown, Marlon Davidson, Carl Lawson, Jeff Holland – it just feels surre- al.” Harris might be the next great Auburn defensive lineman with the way he’s playing. Two weeks ago, when the Tigers nearly knocked off No. 1 Georgia, Harris was easily one of the best play- ers on the field. He finished with seven tackles, two tackles for loss, one forced fumble and one pass break- up against the defending national cham- pions. To do it on that stage against that caliber of competition, it turned some heads. After his performance, Harris was named to the Pro Football Focus (PFF) Team of the Week. His rush defense grade (91.1) through five games was tops in college football. “That just made me lock in more on the little details because I know how close we were to winning that game and seeing how close we are to where we want to be,” Harris said. “I want to know the bad plays I had so I can understand how to get better and have an even bet- ter game.” With more games like he had against Georgia, Harris could end up playing on Sundays – a possibility he never imag- ined while at Kansas. But regardless of what happens in the future, Harris is making the most of the present and leaving a legacy at Auburn that would make his family proud. After all, family is what is most important to him. It’s what drives him. “That’s what I do it for,” he said. “I do it for my family, so they can brag on me. Not so much me bragging on myself. I like my family to brag on me. It’s so amaz- ing having your little cousins be like, ‘I’ve THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED AUBURNTIGERS.COM TEAMMATES HARRIS, JONES FIND OPPORTUNITY AT AUBURN BY GREG OSTENDORFgot a big cousin who plays for Auburn,’ and they can actually be truthful about it. When I grew up, I didn’t have anybody like that. I used to tell stories. ‘I know him.’ And I really didn’t know him. “I try to bring that positive impact to my family, show them that they can do it too. “When I was a little kid, I didn’t know I was going to be here. Especially com- ing out of high school. I went to Kansas. I never knew I was going to be here. So, I always take advantage of these mo- ments and take advantage of this oppor- tunity.” Like Harris, Jones saw an opportunity when he left Oregon and transferred to Auburn. Yes, it was closer to home where his family could come and watch him play. “It means a lot to me now that they can come support me,” he said. “Not so much for me but more so for them be- cause I know they love football, they love watching me play football, they grew up watching me play football. Those two years were kind of hard for them not being able to really watch me play foot- ball. Now they’re taking advantage of it. They’re coming to almost every single game.” But for Jones, it was more than just being close to home. It was an oppor- tunity to play in the SEC and an oppor- tunity to follow in the footsteps of his cousins, Cornelius Bennett and Andre Tippett, who both played 10-plus years in the NFL. It was an opportunity to continue the rich tradition of defensive line play at Auburn. “A lot of great defensive linemen like Derrick Brown, Colby Wooden, Mar- lon Davidson have come out of here and made a name for themselves in the league through Auburn,” Jones said. “They’re the people that did it right. They didn’t get there for no reason, so they must have done something right. “It means a lot to try and add to that legacy of being a defensive lineman at Auburn.” Jones arrived on the Plains in 2022, a year after Harris, but the 6-foot-6, 338-pound nose tackle has started every game for the Tigers in that span and has formed one of the SEC’s more intimidat- ing tandems up front alongside Harris. “I appreciate him,” Jones said. “He doesn’t know this, but I watch him and I see what he does because he does a lot of things right. That’s the kind of person you want on your team.” From Harris to Wooden to Brown, do- ing things the right way has clearly been a common denominator for some of Au- burn’s great defensive linemen over the years. It’s no different with Jones. He had to grow up when he left home for Oregon as a college freshman, but he found his way back to Auburn where he wants to leave as an Auburn Man. “The legacy I want to leave here is not so much for football,” he said. “It’s for the type of person I am. Jayson Jones did it right. Be like him. He went to class, never got in trouble, did the right stuff on the field. When he messed up, he knew he messed up, and he fixed it the next play. I just want to be known for that.” AUBURNTIGERS.COM 24 THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED THE ROAD LESS TRAVELEDsave on auto insurance spend on Tiger merch *INSURANCE FEATURE NOT AVAILABLE IN EVERY STATE. Countrywide average premium savings for customers with safe driving discounts and Drivewise vs. those without. Savings vary by state, based on driving behaviors & based on how you buy. Subject to terms, conditions & availability. In some states, through your participation in Drivewise, your driving data may be used for purposes of rating & your rate could increase with high-risk driving. Allstate Fire and Casualty Ins. Co. & affiliates. 3100 Sanders Rd, Northbrook, IL. © 2023 Allstate Insurance Co. Marks are registered trademarks of their respective owners. PROUD PARTNER Safe driving and Drivewise® saves you 40%*28 HEAD COACH HUGH FREEZE Hugh Freeze became the 31st head football coach in Auburn history in No- vember, 2022. Freeze has nearly three decades of continued coaching success, including head coaching experience that has led to conference titles, nationally ranked recruiting classes and bowl appear- ances at multiple stops during his highly decorated career. Freeze came to Auburn from Liber- ty University, where he was head coach from 2019-22. Freeze led the Flames to four bowl games and a 34-15 record. Freeze experienced similar success at each of his head coaching stops prior to Liberty that include Lambuth Univer- sity (2008-09), Arkansas State (2011) and Ole Miss (2012-16). Freeze led each school to double-digit win seasons, while helping Ole Miss to a top 10 national fin- ish in 2015. His on-field coaching record in 12 years is 103-47. Liberty was just one of five FBS teams in the country to win a bowl game each season from 2019-21, joining Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky and Louisiana. It was the second team in NCAA history to win a bowl game during its first three full sea- sons at the FBS level, all coming under Freeze’s leadership. Freeze guided Liberty to a 10-1 overall record in 2020 and the team’s first-ever national ranking as it finished No. 17 in the country. That season, Lib- erty had the best start in program history (8-0), tied the program record for wins (10) and defeated two Power 5 programs in Syracuse and Virginia Tech. For his ef- forts, Freeze was a finalist for the George Munger Collegiate Coach of the Year Award. Known for his fast-paced offensive style, Freeze’s 2020 Liberty team set a school record for rushing yards in a sea- son in 2020 (2,776) and ranked No. 9 in the country in rushing offense. Liberty also ranked No. 15 nationally in total of- fense (482.7 yards per game) and No. 11 in total defense (317.7 yards per game). The Flames were one of three teams in the country to rank in the top 20 in both total offense and total defense in 2020, joining Clemson and BYU. Spearheading Liberty’s outstand- ing offense in 2020 was former Auburn quarterback Malik Willis, who burst into the spotlight leading the nation in rushing yards (944) and touchdowns (14) by a FBS quarterback. Willis earned All-America honors, was named to the Davey O’Brien Award Quarterback Class of 2020 and was on the 2020 Maxwell Award watch list. The Flames posted an eight-win sea- son in 2021 after facing eight bowl-eli- gible teams during that campaign. Lib- erty’s defense finished the 2021 season ranked No. 7 nationally in passing yards allowed, No. 11 in total defense and No. 24 in scoring defense. Offensively, Lib- erty finished 2021 ranked No. 25 in the country in scoring offense and No. 8 in passing yards per completion. Leading the charge for the Flames in 2021 once again was Willis, who was a semifinalist for the Davey O’Brien Na- tional Quarterback Award and the Max- well Award and a top 10 candidate for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award. Willis was a third-round draft pick of the Ten- nessee Titans in the 2022 NFL Draft. In 2022, Liberty finished the regu- lar season 8-4 with wins over Arkansas and BYU; three of the four losses came by a combined five points. The Flames earned a berth in the Boca Raton Bowl. While head coach at Ole Miss, Freeze took the Rebels to bowl games in three of his five seasons, including wins in the 2013 Music City and the 2016 Sugar bowls. Freeze’s time in Oxford was highlight- ed by a 10-3 campaign in 2015, the pro- gram’s first 10-win season since 2003. The Rebels won their first four games of the 2015 season, including a 43-37 road victory over No. 2 Alabama, Ole Miss’ first win in Tuscaloosa since 1988. The Rebels were ranked as high as No. 3 in the national polls in both 2014 and 2015 and finished in the national Top 10 for the first time since 1969 after the Sugar Bowl win. Ole Miss was ranked in the top 25 for 45 weeks over Freeze’s five-year tenure, including a string of 27 straight weeks in the polls for the first time since 1957-62. Freeze collected four nationally ranked recruiting classes at Ole Miss. In 2013 and 2016, his recruiting classes ranked in the top five nationally, the best in program history. Freeze and his staff developed 20 players who earned all-SEC honors, in- cluding All-Americans Cody Prewitt, Senquez Golson, Robert Nkemdiche, Laremy Tunsil, Evan Engram, Laquon Treadwell and Trae Elston. AUBURNTIGERS.COM HUGH FREEZE HEAD COACH® TRUCKWORX.COMNext >