Flop and Fumble Or Auburn Greatness; Super Mario Gets His Chance

Is this the year that Mario Fannin finally gets his shot at being one of Auburns greatest?

We have seen Mario develop substantially over the last several years but will it be enough to catapult him into the record books.

Early in his career we thought he would be the next Cadillac but fortunes turned and he never recovered.

In 2007 Mario busted into the backfield and he was amazing, he juked, he jived, he spun, and he kept kicking. He was only a red shirt freshman. We all saw great potential but with Brad Lester in the back field there wasn’t a lot of room for Mario.

He closed out the 2007 season with a 22-yard catch from Kodi Burns in the Chik-fil-A. His stats for a red shirt freshman seemed great. Mario ran for 448-yards, 176-yard receiving, and almost 400-yards in kick returns. He started in two games and played in thirteen.

Going into the off season Auburn had three great backs; Brad Lester, Ben Tate, and Mario Fannin. In 2008 Brad Lester already secured his place on the depth chart, but who would be number two? With as much flash as Mario had in 2007 it still wasn’t enough to secure his place on the depth chart.

Mario Fannin ran the ball 30 less times in 2008 then he did in 2007 and in 2009 he carried the ball 20 less times than the year before.

In 2009 it looked like Mario was poised to be the number two back behind Ben Tate. We all thought, the 1-2 punch is back. With Gus’s full throttle offense Mario was never really in the back field and there was no 1-2 punch with Ben and Mario.

Since 2007 he has only ran the ball 173 times for 971 yards. Is this enough experience to carry Mario Fannin into the record books? Can Mario make a run at the Heisman?

2010 is here, Mario finally gets his shot at being the number one back and he will do great things. With the experience Mario has now and a senior offensive line, he will be better than any running back since Cadillac. He will carry the ball for more than 1300 yards on the ground and break the 2000 mark for all purpose yards. Mario will go down in the history books as being one of the greatest running backs Auburn has every seen.