< PreviousUNC OMMON BOND 21 There will forever be a bond between Tashawn Manning and Brodarious Hamm. Yes, they signed with Auburn in the same recruiting class. Yes, they are both starters on the offensive line. But the bond goes much deeper than that. They are brothers in a rare fraternity, a fraternity most of us never want to be a part of. Five years ago, Manning and Hamm were both diagnosed with cancer within three months of each other. They were seniors in high school at the time, and both had already committed to play for Auburn. They were “on top of the world,” as Manning put it, but just like that, everything they had worked for was put on hold. For Manning, it was the week of Thanksgiving when he found out. He was planning to take his official visit to Auburn that weekend for the Iron Bowl, but this strange cough he had during the season kept getting worse. That partic- ular week, he started to feel weaker and more tired; he could barely breathe. So his parents took him to the doctor. Initially they thought it was pneumo- nia. However, the medicine didn’t help. The next day, they went to the hospital, ran some tests and discovered he had leukemia. “Of course, I was shocked,” Manning said. “Everything was going right. I was going to the school of my choice. And then everything was on pause. You don’t know whether your football career is going to be affected by this or how your everyday life will be affected by this, but it’s just something you have to push through.” Hamm, who was in the same recruit- ing class as Manning, found out three months later. It was two weeks after sign- ing day. He’d always had a knot behind his ear, and his dad wanted to go get it checked out. Sure enough, after running some tests on it, it came back as cancer. Again, shock set in. How could this happen to me? “Being in high school, I just didn’t un- derstand why at first,” Hamm said. “But then my parents and my family kept me upbeat. They were talking to me about how God gives us battles to help us become warriors, and it just kind of kept A UBURNTI G ERS.C O M UNCOMMON BOND: BEATING CANCER PROVIDES STRENGTH FOR AUBURN OL DUO BY GREG OSTENDORF (continued on page 23) UNC OMMON BOND 23 me going. After talking with my family, I felt like I could beat it and just keep my head up.” For Auburn, it was unimaginable for this to happen to any incoming player, let alone two in the same class. But head coach Gus Malzahn reassured both Manning and Hamm that no matter what happened, they still had scholar- ships to Auburn. “Knowing I still had my scholarship, it gave me that vision or that goal I could achieve,” Manning said. “It was some- thing that pushed me to get better.” “It was really the best news I had during those times,” added Hamm. “I didn’t want my scholarship to get torn up because of something I couldn’t control. They just reassured me that nothing would change. That meant a lot to me.” With the destination still intact, the recovery process began. Manning stayed in the hospital for two months, waking up every morning to do six hours of chemotherapy. He was allowed to go home after the first two months but still had to come back to do chemotherapy every morning for next four months It was a similar regiment for Hamm, who said some days were better than others, but none of it was easy. It was during this time when the two first contacted each other. They were already supposed to enroll at Auburn together, and now they had this struggle, this battle, in common. “I didn’t know Brodarious before coming to Auburn,” Manning said. “But once I got diagnosed and he got diagnosed, I thought it would be pretty cool to have somebody on the team that went through the same thing as you. You have something in common that not a lot of people have gone through. It made the transition a lot better having someone like that on the team.” “Tashawn and I talked once or twice before we actually met each other,” Hamm said. “He was going through the same thing I was going through. So if he could push through, I could push through. That built our bond to this day still.” Eventually both players went into re- mission and enrolled at Auburn – Hamm in the summer of 2016 and Manning in January 2017. The hardest part was over. Once at Auburn, it took some time for the two freshmen to get acclimated and get back into playing shape. Neither had been able to run, lift or do any kind of training for a whole year while they were in chemotherapy and battling cancer. Both credit Auburn’s strength coach Ryan Russell for pushing them and getting them ready to play at the college level. Manning, a defensive lineman coming in, made the move to offensive line prior to the 2018 season. He and Hamm were now in the same position room together, and it was during that 2018 season when the two saw their first A UBURNTI G ERS.C O M (continued from page 21) (continued on page 71) UNCOMMON BOND: BEATING CANCER PROVIDES STRENGTH FOR AUBURN OL DUO A L OOK B A CK A T THE 2010 IRON BO WL 25 A LOOK BACK AT THE 2010 IRON BOWL #2 Auburn 28, #9 Alabama 27 Bryant-Denny Stadium - Tuscaloosa, Ala. Nov. 26, 2010 A UBURNTI G ERS.C O M 24 Auburn won 28-27 after overcoming a 24-0 second-quarter deficit. The 24-point come-from-behind victory in the 2010 Iron Bowl is a school record. It is was the fourth time the Tigers erased a double-digit deficit to win on the season. 18 Cam Newton accounted for four touch- downs on the day, including a 1-yard rushing score in the third quarter. The touchdown moved Newton’s total to 18 rushing scores on the season, breaking the single-season record, which was shared by Bo Jackson (1985) and Carnell Williams (2003). Newton finished the season with 20 rushing touchdowns. 10 Auburn is 5-3 in top-10 matchups in the Iron Bowl, including wins in the last three games between top-10 teams in the series in 2010, 2013 and 2017. HEAD C O A CH GUS MALZAHN 27 In seven years as head coach at Auburn, Gus Malzahn has led the Tigers to seven consecutive bowl games, a Southeastern Conference Champi- onship, two SEC West Division titles and an appearance in the 2014 BCS National Championship Game. Malzahn has directed Auburn to five New Year’s Day bowl games. Malzahn, 71-34 in eight seasons as a head coach, has directed teams to seven conference championship game appearances in his 14 seasons as a collegiate coach, including a pair of SEC Championships at Auburn (2010, 2013) and a Sun Belt Championship at Arkansas State in 2012. The 2013 Bear Bryant, Bobby Bowden, Eddie Robinson, Home Depot, Sporting News, SB Nation, Liberty Mutual and Associated Press National Coach of the Year, Malzahn earned SEC Coach of the Year honors after guiding Auburn to the biggest turnaround in SEC history. He led the Tigers to a 12-2 record and one of the most memorable seasons in school history in 2013, with historic wins over Georgia and Alabama and a record-setting SEC Championship win over Missouri. He became just the third coach in SEC history to win an SEC title in his first year at a school, joining LSU’s Bernie Moore in 1935 and Ole Miss’ John Vaught in 1947. The second-longest active tenured head coach at one school in the SEC, Malzahn is one of only nine active FBS head coaches that have played in a national championship game. During his time at Auburn, the Tigers are one of three SEC schools to play in multiple SEC Championships games and play for a national championship. Last season the Tigers had one of the nation’s most difficult schedules while posting a 9-4 record with wins over na- tionally ranked Oregon and Alabama to bookmark the regular season schedule. Auburn’s schedule included four games against teams in the top nine of the final CFP rankings. Senior Derrick Brown was a consensus All-America and SEC Defensive Player of the Year while help- ing a Tiger defense rank in the top 20 nationally. Offensively, Auburn was led by true freshman quarterback Bo Nix, who was named the SEC Freshman of the Year. The Tigers concluded the reg- ular season third in the SEC in scoring offense and fourth in total offense. In 2018, the Tigers posted an 8-5 regular season record while facing six opponents that were ranked in the final College Football Playoff Top 25 (four of those played away from home), including four teams of the top 11 teams. The Tigers capped the season with an impressive 63-14 win over Purdue in the Music City Bowl. With Malzahn at the helm calling the plays, the Tigers’ 63 points were a new SEC bowl game record for points, and the 56 first-half points were the most ever by a college football team in one half of a bowl game. In 2017, Malzahn’s team reached as high as No. 2 in the College Foot- ball Playoff Poll and played in the SEC Championship Game for the second time in five seasons, knocking off No. 1 Georgia and No. 1 Alabama in a No- vember to remember on The Plains. It was the first time in poll history that a program has defeated two top-ranked teams during the same regular season. The 2017 Tigers were one of four FBS teams to average more than 225 yards rushing and 225 yards passing and averaged 37.1 points per game in league play. Auburn averaged 40.9 points and 491.1 yards in SEC action, both program bests, while winning five of seven con- ference games by 21 points or more. In 2016, Malzahn’s team won six consecutive games, the third longest win streak by Auburn in 12 years, while finishing second in the nation’s most difficult division, the SEC West. Under his direction, the 2016 Tigers ranked in the top 50 nationally in total offense and total defense, an Auburn first since 2005. Auburn’s balance in 2016 was dis- played by a team that ranked first in the SEC and sixth nationally in rushing, cou- pled with a defense that was seventh in the country in scoring defense and 28th in total defense. The special team units, traditionally been a strong point under Malzahn, were led by the strong leg of All-America and Groza Award finalist kicker Daniel Carlson. In 2015, the youthful Tigers, which lost 14 players to the NFL from the previ- ous season, faced 11 bowl teams en route to a Birmingham Bowl victory over Mem- phis. Malzahn’s 2014 team was ranked in the nation’s top 10 for a majority of the season before finishing 8-5 after navigating the nation’s most difficult schedule featuring seven ranked foes. He has produced 15 1,000-yard rushers in 14 seasons as a college coach, including Heisman Trophy finalist Tre Mason (1,816) and Nick Marshall (1,068) in 2013 and Cameron-Artis Payne (1,608) in 2014. Kamryn Pettway ran for 1,123 yards in 2016 despite missing significant time with injuries and Kerryon Johnson led the SEC with 1,320 yards in 2017. On three occasions, Malzahn has had two 1,000-yard rushers in the same season: 2013 (Auburn), 2010 (Auburn) and 2006 (Arkansas). Malzahn has also coached five 1,000-yard receivers and three 3,000-yard passers. His 2007 Tul- sa team had three 1,000-yard receivers. Since Malzahn’s arrival, Auburn has the top rushing offense in the SEC, averaging 234.6 yards per game. In 2013, Auburn led the nation in rushing at 328.3 A UBURNTI G ERS.C O M GUS MALZAHN HEAD COACHCONECUH - Auburn REV 8.19 Full.indd 18/15/19 12:25 PMHEAD C O A CH GUS MALZAHN 29 yards per game, the first SEC team ever to do so. Three of the top six team rushing totals in SEC history (2010, 2013, 2016) have come under Malzahn’s leadership. Auburn was just the second team in SEC history to gain more than 7,000 yards of total offense in a season in 2013, finishing the year with 7,018 yards; the other was Texas A&M in 2012. The Tigers set a school record with 48 rushing touchdowns in 2013 and set a school record against SEC opponents with 677 yards of total offense vs. No. 5 Missouri in the SEC Championship Game. The Tigers set SEC Championship Game team records with 26 rushing first downs, 74 rushing attempts, 545 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns. Tre Mason, a Heisman Trophy finalist and 2013 SEC Player of the Year, ranked third in the nation with 23 touchdowns, was fifth nationally with 1,816 yards rushing, sixth with 10.7 points per game, sixth with 169.57 all-purpose yards per game and eighth with 129.7 rushing yards per game. Mason set the Auburn single-season record with 1,816 rushing yards and 2,374 all-purpose yards and was second with 317 rushing attempts. His 46 rushing attempts and 304 rushing yards vs. No. 5 Missouri set SEC Championship Game records and fell three yards shy of the Auburn record. In Malzahn’s seven seasons, a total of 32 players have been selected in the National Football League draft, includ- ing four first round draft picks, includ- ing Derrick Brown (No. 7) and Noah Igbinoghene (No. 30) in the 2020 NFL Draft. Malzahn’s other first round picks including Greg Robinson (No. 2 overall) and Dee Ford (No. 23) of the 2014 draft. In the last two drafts, 12 Auburn players have been drafted, the most in a two- year span in the common draft era. Malzahn has coached 13 All-Amer- icans as head coach at Auburn: RB Tre Mason (2013), RS Chris Davis (2013), OT Greg Robinson (2013), C Reese Dismukes (2013-14), PK Daniel Carlson (2015-16-17), DL Carl Lawson (2016), DL Montravius Adams (2016), OL Alex Kozan (2016), OL Braden Smith (2016- 17), DB Carlton Davis (2017), DL Jeff Holland (2017), RB Kerryon Johnson (2017) and DL Derrick Brown (2019). Brown won the Lott IMPACT Trophy last season, Dismukes was named the 2014 Rimington Award winner as the nation’s top center and Carlson was a three-time Lou Groza Award finalist. The Tigers have faced the nation’s most difficult schedule collectively during Malzahn’s seven years on The Plains facing 34 ranked opponents, including 18 in the top 10. Auburn was the nation’s only program in 2016 to face both the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked programs and in 2017 it faced three of the four CFP Semifinalists a total of four times, earning two wins. Malzahn and his coaching staff have been highly successful on the recruiting trail, recording five consecutive Top 10 nationally ranked recruiting classes, a first in the program’s history. Six of his eight recruiting classes have been in the Top 11 nationally. Academically, Malzahn’s Tigers have excelled as nearly 200 players have graduated since his arrival. Malzahn, who won the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach in 2010 while helping the Tigers to the national title, returned to Auburn after serving as the head coach at Arkansas State in 2012, where he led the program to the Sun Belt Conference title. As offensive coordinator, Malzahn made an immediate impact during his tenure at Auburn, highlighted by a record-setting offense in 2010 when the Tigers finished 14-0 and claimed the school’s first national title since 1957. Malzahn’s arrival in 2009 and style of offense marked a drastic turnaround from the 2008 season when Auburn struggled offensively. In a two-year pe- riod, the Tigers improved from a tie for 110th to seventh in the nation in scoring offense (from 17.3 to 41.2) and from 104th to seventh in total offense. The 2010 Auburn offense set nine school records, while leading the SEC and finished in the top 10 nationally in six statistical categories. He coached Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton, who had one of the best single-season performances at the position in college football history. Newton threw for 2,908 yards and 30 touchdowns, while rushing for 1,586 yards and 20 TDs. Newton, the No. 1 overall draft pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, also won the Davey O’Brien, Manning and Maxwell Award. During two seasons (2007-08) at Tulsa, Malzahn’s offenses were among the nation’s finest, ranking first na- tionally in total offense. Tulsa’s offense in 2007 established nine team and 12 individual school records; the 2008 Tulsa offense averaged 569.9 yards per game and was second nationally aver- aging 47.2 points per games. Malzahn spent one season at Arkansas as of- fensive coordinator, coaching Heisman Trophy runner-up Darren McFadden and helping the SEC West champion Razorbacks finish fourth nationally in rushing offense. Malzahn’s coaching career began in his home state of Arkansas at the high school level. In 14 seasons as a high school head coach, Malzahn led seven teams to the state championship game and won three titles. In July 2013, he was inducted into the Arkansas High School Sports Hall of Fame. Born in Irving, Texas, Malzahn gradu- ated from high school in Fort Smith, Ark., and played football at Arkansas and Henderson State, earning his bachelor’s degree from Henderson in 1990. Malzahn is married to the former Kristi Otwell and they are the parents of two daughters, Kylie (Collin) Peek and Kenzie (Charl) Stander. The Malzahns have two grandsons, Anderson James Peek (March, 2018) and Arthur Elliott Peak (December, 2019). A UBURNTI G ERS.C O M MALZAHN AT A GLANCE Personal Born: Oct. 28, 1965 Hometown: Ft. Smith, Ark. Wife: Kristi (Otwell) Children: daughters: Kylie, Kenzie Grandchildren: Anderson and Arthur College: Henderson State (B.A. 1990) Playing Experience: Arkansas (1984-85) Henderson State (1988-89) Coaching Experience 2013-current: Auburn Head Coach 2012: Arkansas State Head Coach 2009-11: Auburn Offensive Coordinator/ Quarterbacks Coach 2007-08: Tulsa Assistant Head Coach/ Co-Offensive Coordinator 2006: Arkansas Offensive Coordinator 2001-05: Springdale High School (Ark.) Head Coach 1996-00: Shiloh Christian High School (Ark.) Head Coach 1992-95: Hughes High School (Ark.) Head Coach Bowl Experience Coach: 2020 Outback Bowl 2019 Music City Bowl 2018 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl 2017 Allstate Sugar Bowl 2015 Birmingham Bowl 2014 BCS National Championship 2011 Chick-fil-A Bowl 2011 BCS National Championship 2010 Outback Bowl 2008 GMAC Bowl 2007 Capital One Bowl Player: 1985 Holiday Bowl 1984 Liberty BowlNext >