Auburn football: 247Sports ranks Tank Bigsby #7 RB

College football had one of its most impactful seasons of all time this past year. While attendance was at mandatory historic lows, the quality of play from the top teams in the NCAA FBS had the sport withstanding a global pandemic and delivering on the yearly excitement Saturdays are about. It’s just too damn bad Auburn football couldn’t be a part of the good vibes.

The Tigers had a down year from just about every angle. Their 2020 record was 6-5 after Kevin Steele coached the team to a Citrus Bowl loss on New Year’s Day. A loss to South Carolina was the gut punch the Tigers didn’t need after playing an all-SEC gauntlet of death that included annual matchups against a historically dominant National Champion Alabama Crimson Tide, one of the best Texas A&M teams Jimbo Fisher has ever coached (and an Aggies squad that won an NY6 bowl) and a Kirby Smart-coached Georgia Bulldogs squad that only lost to SEC title game participants Alabama and Florida.

Still, despite the up-and-down season, the unfortunate soundbites Gus Malzahn produced during the season, and the even more unfortunate Malzahn dismissal that produced the coaching search that eventually produced Rockstar replacement Bryan Harsin, Auburn football had one shining light in the 2020 season.

Tank Bigsby.

Bigsby was given his due by 247Sports’ Brad Crawford, who ranked him as the #7 RB in their Top 25 running backs projection:

"If you’re looking for a ballcarrier whose ready to take his game to the next level this fall, Tank Bigsby is the guy. There were murmurs this offseason he could be on the move, but Bigsby will be Auburn’s most important player offensively and will once again have the ball in his hands more than any player within that unit not named Bo Nix under first-year coach Bryan Harsin. Bigsby managed four 100-yard games as a five-star true freshman in 2020, including a 192-yard outburst in his season finale vs. Mississippi State. Considering the production at running back at Boise State during Harsin’s reign, Bigsby has to be excited about being a focal point this fall."

These kinds of national lists are difficult to compile considering the level of talent at the Division I level across the ten FBS conferences and numerous CFB Independents.

That said, even after a down year for the program in his freshman season, Bigsby is creating serious individual hype heading into what could be a very difficult first season for Harsin and co. in their first year on the Plains.

Perhaps Auburn football is only a quarterback ascension away from making a College Football Playoff push.

War Eagle!