Auburn Football Roster Breakdown
2021 Auburn Football Running Backs: Tank Bigsby (So.), Shaun Shivers (Sr.), Devan Barrett (Sr.), Jordon Ingram (Fr.), & Jarquez Hunter (Fr.)
Going into the 2021 season, the Auburn Tigers might have the best RB in the entire country in Tank Bigsby; but behind him there is a lot of unproven potential and many questions.
This offseason has been tumultuous for Auburn football as we have seen multiple transfers from players deciding to further their careers elsewhere and at one point left the Auburn RB room depleted to only two scholarship RBs on the roster.
We all know Tank Bigsby is going to be the #1 guy at the RB position and will look to build upon his SEC Freshman of the Year campaign last season. Bigsby rushed for over 800 yards and 5 TDs in only 10 games last season, which did not see him become the feature back until Week 3 against Arkansas. Bigsby is going to be on the Doak Walker Award watchlist and should have an argument to be the best RB in the SEC for the 2021 season.
Behind Bigsby, Shaun Shivers is back for his 4th season for the Tigers and is looking to carve out a bigger role than he has seen these past few seasons. Shivers has rushed for over 900 yards and 7 TDs while averaging over 5 yards per carry in his three seasons for the Tigers. He will always be remembered for his game-winning TD run against Alabama in 2019.
Shivers will specialize as a change-of-pace guy for Mike Bobo’s new offensive scheme and offer an experienced option to keep the wear and tear to a minimum on Bigsby, who is coming off an injury late in the 2020 season
Devan Barrett came to Auburn in the class of 2017 and was moved to defensive back, but due to the large number of transfers was moved back to RB by Bryan Harsin when he became the head coach for the Tigers. Barrett has not seen the field much as an RB for the Tigers but will not be asked to carry the load for this offense and will mostly be relied on to add depth to the position.
The final two guys in the room are just now getting to campus and are the only two products of the Harsin era. The sole RB in the 2021 recruiting class was Jarquez Hunter, who is a 3-star RB out of Philadelphia, MS that rushed for over 5,000 yards and 77 TDs in his three years of high school football.
Auburn also added transfer RB Jordon Ingram from Central Michigan this week, who is originally from Mobile, AL’s St. Paul’s Episcopal High School and was a 3-star recruit who rushed for over 1,300 yards and 18 TDs as a senior in high school. Both of these players should add much-needed depth to the RB position and should have solid careers as the future of the Auburn RB position.