< 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.comTIGERS TOUR WOLTOSZ FOOTBALL PERFORMANCE CENTER TIGERS TOUR WOLTOSZ FOOTBALL PERFORMANCE CENTER 21 Like a child on Christmas morning, Derick Hall walked excitedly from room to room Thursday when he and his Auburn football teammates toured the Woltosz Football Performance Center for the first time. “These guys having the opportunity to move in here, grow academically, develop football-wise as a player, it’s nothing short of amazing,” the senior All-SEC linebacker said. “For it to be here for the guys, it’s great.” With their phones documenting each discovery, the Tigers journeyed through the facility. “You know what time it is,” quarter- back Robby Ashford said, jogging to his next stop. “This changed the whole game.” “Home, sweet home,” said offensive lineman Jeremiah Wright, sampling the 95,300-square-foot indoor practice facility. “Y’all are in for a treat. Let’s rock and roll,” said interim head coach Carnell Williams at the tour’s outset. The 233,000-square-foot facility is built on 12 acres, featuring two natural grass outdoor fields and an indoor turf field. “I might come back and play!” Williams exclaimed as he entered the 25,000-square-foot Creel Family Play- er Development Lab, which is “about the size of the downtown Publix,” ac- cording to Gregory Forthofer, Auburn Athletics manager of capital programs. There’s space for sports medicine, equipment, recovery, a 3-D printer, even a barber shop. “It’s state of the art,” said Forthofer, who visited a dozen college and profes- sional venues during the project’s plan- ning phase. “I’ve seen NFL facilities, a lot of college facilities, and I know I’m biased because I’m an Auburn guy, but it’s right up there. “So many people working together all on the same page to make this hap- pen. It’s years of planning, vision and healthy conflict. When you’re doing it for Auburn, it’s easy to identify the key characteristics of Auburn football such as toughness that we tried to imple- ment in this building.” Forthofer recently gave a tour of the performance center to members of the Auburn Football Letterman Club. “This is your shoulders we are build- ing this on,” he told the former players. One of those former players, Williams, now leads the program after being elevated to interim coach last week. “I’m so happy for these young men,” Williams said. “Anybody who had any- thing to do with this building, from our donors to Gregory, to see these kids’ faces, I’m ecstatic.” The football program will move in after the season, but the Woltosz Football Performance Center is already generating excitement among fans and student-athletes, past, present and future. “If a kid walks through these doors and sees this facility, they have every resource to be successful along with a big, beautiful building,” Williams said. “We’re not going to forget what makes Auburn great, along with the people, with this beautiful building. Watch out college football!” Seeking ways to differentiate Au- burn from other football-only facilities recruits encounter, Forthofer says Auburn’s project team was tasked with building “something that was Auburn, and this is what we came up with.” Like the Auburn football team, the new facility gets tested this weekend when prospective student-athletes make official visits when the Tigers host Texas A&M. “We may go seven for seven,” Coach Cadillac said. AUBURNTIGERS.COM BY JEFF SHEARERPROUD 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.TIGERS TOUR WOLTOSZ FOOTBALL PERFORMANCE CENTER 23 AUBURNTIGERS.COM TIGERS TOUR WOLTOSZ FOOTBALL PERFORMANCE CENTERINTERIM 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 >