It has been a long road for senior safety Champ Anthony over the last two seasons in the orange and blue, having had his time on the field cut short on multiple occasions due to injury.
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Through his comeback though, all of the waiting he has had to do has allowed his energy to build up higher and higher by the week. On Saturday, he gets to release that, along with the rest of the team as they take on Baylor in Atlanta.
“Last week we treated it like a game week, but like this week, it just feels so good,” Anthony said. “We’re about to be able to play, get somebody else, put some pain on somebody else.”
After the Tigers went into Waco in 2025 and walked out with a 38-24 victory, a lot has changed in the year that has passed for both sides.
One thing that has not changed is the tempo, and Jake Spavital’s offense is one that will run it from the jump.
Anthony says that has been what he’s seen out of watching film, which will play to the strengths of some of their skill weapons.
“We’ve been practicing temp this whole time,” Anthony said. “They’ve got a couple playmakers out of the portal. Just trying to contain and do our job and contain them and we’ll be good.”
One of those athletes that fits into tempo and speed—quarterback DJ Lagway.
Lagway transferred over from Florida, where he spent two seasons as the starting quarterback. The now junior has had a whole offseason healthy, something he has not experienced before. Nonetheless, he brings abilities that Anthony says stick out.
“He can make a lot of throws, strong lower half, good runner. I’ve seen him training some running drills this offseason, so just trying to see and find out how they want to use them,” Anthony said. “He has a big arm, so got to be sticky in coverage and make sure we’re doing the right stuff.”
Lagway will be leading an offense that spreads out and utilizes the whole field, a tactic that has become more and more prominent in the sport as a whole.
However, it is something that Anthony is excited to see now, this early in the season.
“At first when you’re seeing it, it looks weird. But now, seeing it so much from our team, it just makes sense now,” Anthony said. “I’m glad Coach Golesh is here because we play a couple teams that run that widespread, fast tempo offense. Being able to get that early during the season and see where we stand on that, that’s also a great thing.”
Outside of all the preparation for the game though, when it comes to Auburn, Anthony has been optimistic with what the team has put together themselves.
It has all started with coming closer together as a program, a mindset that each player bought into and has taken to heart.
“We did a lot of hard work, not even just on the field, but just together, just trying to create a group of men who play for each other and play for the coaches that are on the sidelines,” Anthony said. “We did a lot of work building the culture and we’ll see how it goes on Saturday.”
On the field though, the hard work has been put into a lot of areas, specifically with being able to be versatile.
The Tigers have multiple guys all over the defense that have been training to play multiple spots in their respective areas, something that will become valuable down the road.
“When you’ve got fresh guys in the SEC, you’ve got to have a bunch of guys that can do a bunch of different things,” Anthony said. “People go down at weird spots and you’ve got to have a guy who knows how to step in and just play that, even if he hasn’t had game reps in that. That’s why we all rep everybody at practice. Just having that depth and having that versatility in the back end, it just helps.”
Many of those guys training in that way are guys who have been veterans of the program and played under Defensive Coordinator DJ Durkin in 2025.
As a result of that continuity, the progress in terms of communication across the whole defense has been monumental.
It’s something Anthony is ready for people to see on Saturdays, as it could make for another solid year with Durkin leading the way.
“You can really see (the communication) in like that middle,” Anthony said. “Those guys are linebackers man, they run the defense and they get the front set, but it’s so much more confidently. They know what it is… We know what Durk is going to call now or we’ve kind of got a feeling for it, so just seeing those guys just command that D-line and we get the back end straight and we make sure we communicate with the linebackers, that’s just real good.”
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
