Absolutely. You know, we talk about identity and everything that I want this program to be and everything that we represent. There could have been a bunch of guys that we picked. These three guys Represent every single day this identity that I talk about. Represent the standards that we live every single day. Start with Champ Anthony. Champ is a young man that has overcome about as much as anybody in our program. A young man that came from junior college, came in, won a job, was a captain. and has had two seasons get cut short by a broken leg and then a broken leg. And a young man since the day I got there has once stood on the table for being at Auburn, leading the right way, bringing others with him on both sides of the ball, On top of being a high-end football player that can play all five spots in the back end and has said over and over again, coach, just find a way to get me on the field and I'll do everything in my power to help Auburn win football games. Inspirational in every way. He's the first guy I see every morning when I walk in the building rehabbing to get right. He's finally cleared. He's ready to rock and roll. He's a guy that in spring, when he couldn't go, literally, I'd have to pull him off the field because he's out there coaching his tail off. And Champ represents everything you want an Auburn man to be, overcoming adversity. And I just absolutely can't wait for him to have the year that he deserves to have.
Alex McPherson, our kicker, and is the only specialist here at SEC Media Day, as it got pointed out to me. And Alex is another young man that has had an incredibly successful career at Auburn as an Alabama kid that grew up dreaming of playing at Auburn. Another young man since the day I got there said, Coach, I just want to do everything in my power to go win at Auburn. And a young man whose 20, 24 year got cut short. His story has been highly publicized. Talk about overcoming adversity, really shouldn't be playing football, and continues to fight through to be one of the best kickers in the history of Auburn. But at the same time, represents everything you want an Auburn man to be. He's a young man that in winter workouts talked to the trainers, our doctors, I told his position coach, listen, this winter workout thing, this is about to be as grueling as anything that these guys have ever gone through. I need Alex to make field goals. Let's kind of have him go over there, work out, kind of on his own. I went up to Alex. I said, listen, dude, you're not going to go through this. And you should have seen the look on Alex's face. He's like, I'm not a kicker. I play football here. And as late as yesterday morning at 7 a.m. when he lifted with the developmental group, he's out there running with the skill guys. This is a kicker that we need to make field goals, refuses to do anything other than what everybody else is doing. You talk about our identity, physically and mentally tough, leader, his process is elite and and what he does and how he does it almost a 90 field goal guy in his career here is another guy that i'm so excited about watching his senior year and seeing him help us win football games because of the way that he's bought in and his process and and identity of our football program alex mcpherson is an auburn man as they come.
Then you talk about Byrum Brown, and Byrum is a young man that I've known since he was an 18-year-old redshirt freshman that has grown through these four years into one of the best football players I've ever been around. Again, you talk about identity, and you talk about process-driven, and you talk about player-led. young man that has not only developed as a player to become a complete quarterback, but a guy that has developed as a leader. And I've always said this, and I've been fortunate over the last 10 years to be around some special quarterbacks. When your quarterback can be one of the toughest guys on the team, could be one of the hardest workers on the team, could have the most elite process on the team, on top of being one of the best leaders on the team, when it's driven by that quarterback, by the guy that touches the ball every single snap, and both the offense and the defensive guys can point to him and say, that's who we follow, you can do something special. And Byrum Brown represents everything that's right about Auburn football and the identity that we're building. And a guy that went into the portal after last season, and you talk about a couple days where you sit there and you cringe like, man, everybody in the country is going after this kid, and the kid that showed up in Auburn and said, man, what do we gotta do to go win? Makes, obviously, me feel good. Gives me a level of confidence going into the season that we're led by that guy. And a guy that's worked extremely hard to embrace the guys that were already at Auburn, the guys that transferred in. Just everything you could ever want in a young man and a quarterback, both physically and off the field, That's why these three guys, all seniors, all representing what we want our identity to be, and three guys that by the time they get done, hopefully in late January, that are gonna be Auburn men for life, that represent everything that's right about the Auburn family.
