Auburn football: Why Tank Bigsby avoided the transfer portal

Auburn football RB Tank Bigsby’s return to the Tigers for the 2022 season was perhaps the most notable of any this offseason.

After the Iron Bowl and before the Birmingham Bowl, there was a period of time where it seemed as though both the starting QB and RB were both headed for the transfer portal to continue the nightmare feeling into the offseason from the team’s 0-5 finish.

As we know, 1/2 of that did happen. Bo Nix is now the backup QB to Ty Thompson at Oregon, arguably making a regrettable decision in leaving the Plains.

Bigsby’s decision to stay is one that gives Auburn football a positional strength to build an offensive foundation around, though. And if it wasn’t for Tigers RB coach Cadillac Williams, the lack of certainty under center would be an even greater area of anxiety.

Here’s how the conversation between Williams and Bigsby went, and why the Auburn RB room still has a ‘Tank’:

"“I kind of wanted to understand why, the whole why behind it, but with me it was just about, with him, is this something you really want to do?” Williams said Monday. “I think at times these kids have a lot of people putting stuff in their head, a lot of people telling them X, Y, Z, and a lot of people pulling at them.”“When it all came back down to it, Tank Bigsby loves Auburn,” Williams said. “He loves being here. He has made a name for himself, and I truly think it was something that he never really, really wanted to do. I just think a lot of times the outside noise can have an effect on you, but I just think when it all came said and done, he felt like this place was the best place for him, and I truly think it is.”"

There’s a reason why Cadillac was one of the few holdovers from the Gus Malzahn era to stick with Bryan Harsin’s coaching staff.

There are few RB coaches in the country that can claim to have the kind of connection to the school that employs him he does, and as an NFL veteran who saw success, he has legitimate pull with recruits.

Enough to keep things in order in an RB room that would have lost all of it had Bigsby transferred away from AU.