The road from New Hope, Ala., to the Plains of Auburn has been a long one for Cody Sigler. The defensive tackle was overlooked coming out of high school, spending his first three seasons at Division-II West Alabama before getting a shot at Arkansas State last season.
Now that he has a chance to prove himself at Auburn, he has wasted no time letting Alex Golesh and the coaching staff know that he is ready to contribute immediately.
"Cody's been, if you were to say, man, one guy that just keeps showing up on tape as belongs here, and not just belongs here, but is standing out, like that guy has come in through winter workouts and through four days on a straight-up mission to go win a job,” Golesh said on Tuesday.
In 11 games for the Red Wolves last year, Sigler recorded 35 total tackles (17 solo), with seven tackles for a loss, five sacks, six passes broken up and six quarterback hurries. Needless to say, he was a problem for opposing offenses, and that production caught the eyes of SEC teams this offseason when Sigler entered the transfer portal.
Cody Sigler turning heads in spring practice
Even before spring practice began, Sigler was catching the eyes of his position coach, Vontrell King-Williams.
"He's a dog, man," King-Williams said. "The competition stuff, there's no excuse. He's taking double reps, taking someone else's reps, not making any excuses about it, and still winning. He's a dog. He's going to bring a competitiveness to our room that I think is going to be big, and what's needed. Cody is going to be a big part of what we accomplish this year."
As Golesh pointed out, Sigler has been one of the most consistent players for Auburn during the early portion of spring practice, showing why he was so covered out of the transfer portal.
“It's been really, really impressive,” the head coach said. “From an effort standpoint, we knew what we were getting in that regard. I'm talking about a cool story of a young guy from D2 to Arkansas State to here. That dude wants to be here. That dude wants to be really good.”