After claiming a seven-year, $49 million contract extension this winter, Gus Malzahn is preparing to coach his sixth A-Day game as Auburn’s head man on Saturday afternoon.
Malzahn’s return drew a record crowd of over 83,000 fans to see the Tigers play their spring game in 2013, and many of his players have taken an opportunity to stand out in April’s annual scrimmage inside Jordan-Hare Stadium since.
Let us take a look at some of the top performers in each of Auburn’s A-Day games during Malzahn’s tenure thus far.
2013
Top Performers: RB Cameron Artis-Payne, LB Justin Garrett, WR Ricardo Louis
While Auburn was making its way toward what would become one of the most incredible turnaround seasons in college football history, the stars of the upcoming season were not prominently featured on A-Day.
Heisman finalist Tre Mason played sparingly and eventual starting quarterback Nick Marshall was not even on campus yet.
Instead, junior college transfer Cameron Artis-Payne saw most of the action at tailback. Artis-Payne earned Offensive MVP honors, going for 164 yards and a touchdown on 20 touches. The junior only received 91 carries during the 2013 season, but his spring game performance was the first sign of what would amount to 1,608 rushing yards in 2014.
Due to injury problems, linebacker Justin Garrett never became a significant contributor on Auburn’s defense until his senior season in 2015, but he made one of the plays of the game with a fumble returned for a touchdown to earn Defensive MVP honors.
Ricardo Louis was still over six months away from catching the “Prayer at Jordan-Hare” to help the Tigers beat Georgia, but the speedster began to show promise in 2013’s spring game after catching just three balls as a freshman. Louis made eight receptions for 66 yards on A-Day before catching 28 passes for 325 yards during his sophomore season.
2014
Top Performers: QB Nick Marshall, RB Corey Grant, LB Kenny Flowers
In his first and only opportunity to play on A-Day, Nick Marshall made the most of it. The senior quarterback threw for 236 yards and four touchdowns in his attempt to show he had improved as a passer from the previous season. Marshall earned the game’s Offensive MVP award and went on to surpass his 2013 passing numbers by over 500 yards and six more touchdowns in 2014.
Change-of-pace running back Corey Grant had a big day with 128 rushing yards and a touchdown on just five carries. The senior’s explosive A-Day performance did not quite transfer over to his final season at Auburn, however, as he would drop off in production from the prior year and finish with only 364 rushing yards.
Linebacker Kenny Flowers became known for making his presence felt on A-Day and earned Defensive MVP in 2014, but he would never play much aside from special teams throughout his Auburn career.
2015
Top Performers: QB Jeremy Johnson, WR Myron Burton Jr., S Tray Matthews
The Jeremy Johnson hype train that entered the 2015 season gained a great deal of its momentum from his A-Day performance in which he went 14-of-22 passing for 252 yards and two touchdowns. Both scores came on passes of 36 yards or more.
There were not many doubting Johnson’s talent after the 2015 spring, but it never came together for him when the season arrived. Johnson threw for just 10 touchdowns with seven interceptions in 2015 and lost his starting job four games into the season.
The game’s Offensive MVP was redshirt freshman receiver Myron Burton Jr., who made seven catches for 124 yards and a touchdown and would then never play another game for the Tigers. Burton Jr. left the program shortly before the season began and has since played football at Mesa Community College.
Safety Tray Matthews took Defensive MVP honors in his return to action after being forced to sit out the 2014 season as a transfer from Georgia, but he would not yet become a staple in Auburn’s 2015 defense largely due to injury. Matthews sustained injuries to both of his shoulders during the 2015 season and did not play in five games. The redshirt sophomore still finished the season with 45 tackles and two interceptions.
2016
Top Performers: K Daniel Carlson, DE/OLB Carl Lawson
A-Day in 2016 was a bit of an ugly game as neither side had much success punching it into the end zone, but it gave plenty of opportunities for kicker Daniel Carlson to shine. Carlson went 5-of-5 on field goal attempts, with two coming from 52 and 55 yards out. The specialist went on to make 28-of-32 field goal attempts in 2016 and became a finalist for the Lou Groza Award, something he also accomplished in 2015 and 2017.
After being plagued by injury each of the last two seasons, defensive end Carl Lawson showed again the player he could be while healthy in the spring game. The game’s Defensive MVP brought a pass rush back to Auburn’s defensive line and went on to record 9.5 sacks in 2016 before being selected in the fourth round of the NFL Draft.
2017
Top Performers: QB Jarrett Stidham, WR Nate Craig-Myers, DE/OLB Paul James III
All eyes were on Baylor transfer and potential starting quarterback Jarrett Stidham on A-Day last season, and he did not disappoint. Stidham displayed pinpoint accuracy while also being able to throw the ball down the field, something Auburn’s quarterbacks in 2016 struggled with.
The redshirt sophomore finished the day 16-of-20 passing for 267 yards and ran for a touchdown as well. He went on to start all 14 games for the Tigers in 2014 and threw for 3,158 yards, the second-best single-season mark for an Auburn quarterback in program history.
One of Stidham’s top targets last spring was wide receiver Nate Craig-Myers, who had five catches for 154 yards, including a 50-yard reception down the right sideline. The performance landed Craig-Myers as a front-runner to be one of Auburn’s top playmakers in 2017, but he struggled to get open when the season arrived. The sophomore caught 16 passes for 285 yards and three touchdowns while finishing fourth on the team in receiving.
Illinois transfer Paul James III shined coming off the edge on A-Day and earned defensive MVP honors. After finishing with three tackles for loss, James III looked to be another name to throw in with an extremely deep defensive line. However, the redshirt junior played sparingly and was forced to battle injuries again like he had done the previous season. He finished 2017 recording at least one tackle in just five games and left Auburn’s program before the start of this year’s spring practice.
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