Auburn Football: 10 Best Players in Tigers' History
Three Heisman Trophy winners, three players with retired numbers, 15 national award-winners and dozens of first-team All-Americans can make it extremely challenging to pick a school's 10 best all-time players.
But that's the challenge with Auburn, a program that has some of the most individual star power of any school in college football history.
Only 10 teams have had more than a pair of Heisman winners, and Auburn can claim that—and the fact the trophy's namesake also coached there.
The following list of the 10 best players in Auburn football history was determined by individual awards, All-American selections, school records and number of titles won.
Auburn fans, sound off on this list—and the players who just missed the cut—and create your own top 10 in the comments below.
Honorable Mention
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Sixty-six consensus All-Americans have suited up for the Tigers, and countless others have become Auburn legends for what they've done on the field. Plenty of names are going to not make the cut for this countdown.
Here are 15 additional players who didn't crack the top-10 list but still deserved special mention for their Tiger careers.
RB James Brooks
K Wes Byrum
QB Jason Campbell
QB Dameyune Craig
RB Joe Cribbs
OL Reese Dismukes
DT Nick Fairley
RB Brent Fullwood
QB Nick Marshall
RB Tre Mason
S Buddy McClinton
LB Freddie Smith
OL Zeke Smith
WR Courtney Taylor
QB Stan White
10. LB Takeo Spikes
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Takeo Spikes and his massive neck arrived at Auburn as a highly rated recruit and left as one of the best defensive players the program had ever seen.
An extremely athletic linebacker who would zoom toward the football on every play, Spikes was the heart and soul of the Tigers defense in the mid-1990s. With 331 in three seasons, Spikes ranks 10th all time at Auburn in career tackles.
In his 1997 All-American season, Spikes led the Tigers with 137 tackles, and he recorded more than half of them in the final five games of the campaign. He was a Butkus Award semifinalist in back-to-back seasons and was named the team MVP of the 1997 SEC Championship Game, a close loss to Peyton Manning and Tennessee.
After leaving Auburn early for the NFL, Spikes was a two-time Pro Bowler who recorded more than 200 starts in 15 seasons as a pro. He remains a vocal supporter of Auburn football and has been known to take more than a few shots at Alabama.
9. OL Marcus McNeill
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Marcus McNeill was quite possibly the most dominant offensive lineman in school history, earning starts in all four of his seasons at Auburn.
A two-time All-American, McNeill had the highest lineman grades of anyone on the Tigers' excellent 2004 offensive line. He helped pave the way for a star-studded Auburn backfield and receiving corps and graded no lower than 92 percent in a contest.
The 6'7" star decided to stay in school after Auburn's SEC Championship campaign in 2004 and became a consensus All-American in the 2005 season. As a guard, McNeill only allowed one sack during his entire Auburn career.
Injuries hurt his draft stock and his longevity in the NFL, but McNeill still made the Pro Bowl twice in his six-year career for the San Diego Chargers. He retired in 2012 to cap a short but remarkable football career as a consistently outstanding lineman.
8. CB Carlos Rogers
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The best defensive back in Auburn history is an easy call. Carlos Rogers was a shutdown, physical cornerback who started from his freshman season under Tommy Tuberville.
The Georgia native picked up some Freshman All-American honors in 2001 and recorded four interceptions in 2002 as a sophomore. Although he could have gone pro after his junior season, Rogers said he came back to school in 2004 because he wanted to prove he was one of the best defensive backs in the country.
He did just that in 2004, becoming the first player in Auburn history to win the Thorpe Award. Rogers owned his side of the field in Auburn's perfect season and finished his career with a program-record 40 pass deflections.
Rogers was another one of several first-round picks from Auburn in the 2005 NFL draft. He made the Pro Bowl in 2011 and played in a Super Bowl with the San Francisco 49ers.
T-6. RBs Carnell "Cadillac" Williams and Ronnie Brown
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OK, so this might be cheating for a true top-10 list, but it's impossible to separate Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown. When Auburn fans think of great running back tandems, two combos come to mind—this one and the one James Brooks and Joe Cribbs had in the late 1970s.
While Brooks and Cribbs have slightly more yards than Williams and Brown in their Auburn careers, they have 16 fewer touchdowns than this pairing from the mid-2000s.
Cadillac owns Auburn's all-time rushing touchdown mark with 45 and recorded one of the greatest runs in Iron Bowl history with his opening score in 2003. And although he had 228 fewer carries in his career than Williams, the bruising Brown still ranks ninth all time for most rushing yards and sixth in rushing touchdowns.
The two saved their best performances for last in 2004, when they led the Tigers offense to a perfect season and a SEC championship. As "Running Back U," Auburn has had some legendary backfields. But in terms of scoring points and winning games, Williams and Brown were the best.
5. WR Terry Beasley
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Every star quarterback needs a go-to receiver, and Terry Beasley was just that for legendary quarterback Pat Sullivan. As Sullivan's sidekick, Beasley was a two-time first-team All-American in 1970 and 1971.
Beasley owns the career receiving record at Auburn with 2,507 yards in just three seasons, and his 29 career touchdowns are 11 more than the next player on the list, Ben Obomanu. The best two seasons for receiving scores in school history both belong to Beasley.
He was a first-round pick in the 1972 NFL draft by the San Francisco 49ers, but injuries ended the legendary receiver's career early. His family told AL.com in 2013 he had suffered 19 different concussions during his playing days, and they've had a major effect on his health today.
Undoubtedly the best wide receiver in Auburn history, Beasley's No. 88 was retired shortly after he left the school. Even in today's game, it might be impossible for a Tiger receiver to match Beasley's Hall of Fame career.
4. DT Tracy Rocker
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Of all the Tigers' first-team All-Americans, Tracy Rocker is one of the few to be at least a consensus pick in two different seasons. A dominant force down the middle of the line, Rocker is fourth all time at Auburn for career sacks with 21—the most of any defensive tackle.
In his 1988 unanimous All-American season, Rocker became the first player in SEC history to win both the Lombardi Award as the nation's best defensive lineman or linebacker and the Outland Trophy as the best interior lineman.
His prowess on defense played a role in overall team success as he was a member of two different SEC championship teams during his time at Auburn. Just four years after his final season on the Plains, Rocker was regarded enough to be named to the Tigers' team of the century.
Rocker continued to make his impact in football as a coach. He helped develop defensive line stars such as Nick Fairley during Auburn's 2010 national championship season and had a stint as an assistant in the NFL. Rocker is currently an assistant at Georgia, further adding to the shared history between the two rivals.
3. QB Cam Newton
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While the top two players on this list enjoyed longer careers at Auburn, Cam Newton had one of the best seasons in program—and college football—history.
In his one and only year at Auburn, Newton scored 50 touchdowns, which ranks him sixth best at Auburn for an entire career. Under the guidance of then-offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, the 6'6", dual-threat quarterback went over, around and through defenses and became the only player in school history to break the 4,000-yard mark in a single season.
Through intense spotlight and a midseason NCAA investigation, Newton made plays for Auburn that will be remembered forever, from his long touchdown run against LSU to his Superman dive against South Carolina. With Newton at quarterback, Auburn had four double-digit comeback victories, none bigger than the one in the 2010 Iron Bowl against Alabama.
Newton's highlight-reel campaign at Auburn ended in with a Heisman Trophy and a victory over Oregon in the BCS National Championship Game, ending the school's 53-year title drought. Even though he was only in Auburn for one season, Newton is an Auburn legend.
2. QB Pat Sullivan
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Long before the days of uptempo, point-a-minute offenses, Sullivan was a consistent scoring machine for Auburn. His 71 touchdowns as the Tigers' starting quarterback are the most by any player in school history by a 13-score margin.
Although he won the Heisman Trophy in 1971, his 1970 season might have been more impressive. According to longtime Auburn sports information director Buddy Davidson, Sullivan led the nation in both total offense and yards per play that season, but it only earned him a sixth-place finish in Heisman voting.
The next season, Sullivan led Auburn to nine straight wins to open the season, which was enough for him to become the first Heisman winner in school history. He finished his collegiate career for legendary head coach Shug Jordan with a 26-7 record.
Along with fellow Heisman winner Bo Jackson and favorite target Terry Beasley, Sullivan's number is retired at Auburn. No other Tiger has worn that famous No. 7 since Sullivan's three legendary seasons on the Plains.
1. RB Bo Jackson
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Bo Jackson is the greatest running back from a program that has produced plenty of great running backs over the years. He's the only player in Auburn history to have more than 4,000 career rushing yards, and he averaged a blistering 6.6 yards per carry in his four seasons.
He had the greatest career of any of Auburn's three Heisman Trophy winners. Jackson has four of the top 10 best single-game rushing performances in Auburn history. One came in the 1983 Iron Bowl, and the other three came in his 1985 Heisman-winning campaign.
Jackson is also the greatest athlete to ever come out of Auburn. In addition to football, he was a superstar in baseball and track and field. He's the only athlete to ever be named to an All-Star team in two major sports leagues. Don't listen to Charles Barkley on this debate.
No one had to read this section to know who was going to be No. 1 on this list, because Bo Jackson is simply the greatest Auburn Tiger of all time. No discussion needed here.
Stats and records courtesy of the 2014 Auburn football media guide.
Justin Ferguson is an on-call college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.
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