< PreviousA UBURN MEN: BRIT T & BR Y ANT 21 An Auburn defender sprinted to the sideline after making a play to force a three-and-out in the Iron Bowl. The first person to greet him? K.J. Britt, senior linebacker and captain, wearing his familiar No. 33 jersey over an Auburn sweatshirt. Sidelined since the second game of the season with a thumb injury, Britt remains invested in every meeting and every play, providing leadership and en- couragement to teammates, especially linebackers and leading tacklers Zakoby McClain and Owen Pappoe, who as- sumed larger roles in Britt’s absence. “Right now, my part of leading doesn’t come through playing,” Britt said. “It’s coming through my love for Auburn, the way I want Auburn to win, the Auburn community, fans and players. My love for Auburn keeps me motivated. The groundwork I’ve put in, I want to see it upheld.” Britt entered the 2020 season with tremendous promise after earning first-team All-SEC honors in 2019 when he made 10 tackles for loss among 69 stops. In Auburn’s first two games against Kentucky and Georgia, Britt played at his customary high level, record- ing a team-leading 23 tackles. In the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, he played through shoulder and hand injuries to make a dozen tackles. An MRI revealed torn ligaments, which required surgery in early October, sidelining Britt for Auburn’s next seven games. “It’s adapting to whatever God brings to your plate,” Britt said. “I’m making sure that I’m strong and unaffected by my circumstances, and make the most of what I do have.” The Senior Bowl has seen enough to invite Britt to participate in January, giv- ing him an opportunity to impress NFL coaches and decision-makers before next spring’s draft in the same way he’s impressed Auburn linebackers coach Travis Williams for the past four years. “A true Auburn man,” Williams said. “A person who loves Auburn, a person who loves people, a person who loves football. You want a roster full of K.J. Britts on your team. He’s an awesome person. “He’s at every practice. It’s very important to him to see his teammates be successful and to see Auburn be successful. That’s why he’s at every practice. It shows the type of person he is.” Before the season, teammates selected Britt and defensive lineman Big Bryant to represent them as captains, along with offensive leaders Bo Nix and Shaun Shivers. (continued on page 23) A UBURNTI G ERS.C O M AUBURN MEN: SENIOR CAPTAINS K.J. BRITT, BIG KAT BRYANT K.J.Britt BY JEFF SHEARER A UBURN MEN: BRIT T & BR Y ANT 23 (continued from page 21) “Leadership is something that’s always been in me,” Britt said. “I’ve never been a follower. That’s how I was raised and who I am. My version of helping out is everybody else’s version of leading. This is the game I love. It’s an honor to be chosen as a captain.” “To be chosen by my peers to be a captain at Auburn University is a great honor,” Bryant said. Like Britt, Bryant has also battled injuries his senior season, slowed by an ankle sprain that caused him to miss Auburn’s game against South Carolina. As the season has progressed, Bry- ant’s health improved and his impact has increased. He made an interception against LSU and recorded sacks against Tennessee and Alabama. “Trying to finish the season strong,” said Bryant, eager to help Auburn win as many games as possible while improving his NFL draft prospects. “That’s the only thing in my head. Since I’m a senior, I’m trying to put together a good resume.” A four-year contributor, Bryant needs one more sack to reach double figures for his career. After making the SEC All-Freshman team in 2017, he made his first start as a sophomore and ended the season returning an inter- ception for a touchdown in Auburn’s Music City Bowl victory. Last season, Bryant became a full- time starter, showing off his athleticism with an 83-yard fumble recovery against Oregon in Auburn’s season opener. Next year, he hopes to join his cousin, former Auburn defensive line standout Montravius Adams, in the NFL after four seasons of tutelage from associate head coach Rodney Garner. “Big Kat has been a joy to coach,” said Garner. “He’s serious about his craft. He wants to be good, he wants to be coached, he wants to be pushed. He’s a guy who loves Auburn, has truly bought into Auburn and puts Auburn first.” What Britt means to Auburn’s line- backers, Bryant provides for the Tigers’ D-line. “He brings energy, he’s a leader,” Britt said of Bryant. “A friendly guy who loves the game and plays with a dog men- tality. He has a family and is someone everybody can look up to. The way he comes to work every day motivates guys.” “He’s meant a lot to this program,” Bryant said of Britt. “He’s put his hard sweat and tears into this program. We both love Auburn. He’s the definition of an Auburn man.” Before the Tigers kick off Saturday at 11 a.m. CT against Texas A&M, Auburn will honor 18 seniors including K.J. Britt and Big Kat Bryant – captains, team- mates, friends and brothers. “How time flies,” Britt said. ”The growth I’ve experienced over the past four years and how Auburn has helped mold me become the man I am today, more than a football player. “Being blue collar, being hard-work- ing and not being given anything – that’s Auburn. I live for it. I live for this lifestyle. I’ve always been a process guy. My love for Auburn helped my life flourish so I can overcome all the obstacles.” “I gave Auburn everything I had,” Bryant said. “I’m a hard worker. That’s always been me. Auburn is near and dear to my heart. I want people to know that I love Auburn. “Every time I put that helmet on, I’ve learned it’s for more than just that game. It’s for the people who played before you.” A UBURNTI G ERS.C O M AUBURN MEN: SENIOR CAPTAINS K.J. BRITT, BIG KAT BRYANT Big Kat Bryant L OOK B A CK: 2010 SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME 25 A LOOK BACK AT THE 2010 SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME #2 Auburn 56, #18 South Carolina 17 Georgia Dome - Atlanta, Ga. Dec. 4, 2010 A UBURNTI G ERS.C O M 408 Cam Newton ran up 408 yards of total offense and accounted for six touch- downs as Auburn claimed its seventh SEC Championship with a 56-17 victory over South Carolina. 39 Auburn’s 39-point win stands as the largest margin of victory in the 28-year history of the SEC Championship Game and the Tigers’ 56 points in the 2010 SEC Championship Game have only been topped in Auburn’s 59-42 victory over Missouri in the 2013 title game. 217 Darvin Adams caught seven passes for an SEC Championship Game record 217 yards, which still stands, including a 54- yard touchdown in the first quarter and 51-yard touchdown on the final play of the first half. 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 >