"Shivers is too small..."

[Maverick.AU 13,279]

4 hours ago, McLoofus said:

 

[Tiger 8,822]

11 hours ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

If you go from the beginning of this season until now, I don’t think throwing out any other guy (on roster) and asking him to take Boobie’s role would’ve been the best thing for Auburn.

IDK I think DJ would've done just fine. JMO

[Beaker 2,457]

Just read the SEC office is requiring Auburn opponents (why Auburn's opponents???  ) to take a MANDATORY 2 hour class on wearing headgear properly before the 2020 season.

 

????

 

Clearly they are worried about Sean hurting more defensive players.

 

 

 

 

[Auburn Kev 1,653]

Quote

‘Little man runs everybody over’: Behind Shaun Shivers’ decisive touchdown, lasting Iron Bowl image

Today 12:30 PM

 

By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

Shaun Shivers didn’t fully realize what he’d done until he got back to the locker room Saturday night and checked his phone.

His Twitter feed was blowing up with notifications from people tagging him in posts after the 5-foot-7 running back delivered one of the defining moments — and lasting images — of Auburn’s thrilling 48-45 Iron Bowl win. With 8:14 to play and Auburn trailing Alabama by five, Shivers took a handoff from Boobee Whitlow on a sweep out of the Wildcat, turned the corner and lowered the boom as he was met by Tide safety Xavier McKinney at the 6-yard line.

The low man won this battle, and the force with which Shivers met McKinney caused the safety’s helmet to go flying into the air as Shivers bulldozed his way into the end zone, giving Auburn a three-point lead with 8:08 to play in the instant classic rivalry shootout.

“You know, that was just pound-and-ground football,” Shivers said. “That’s all I knew growing up. I don’t fear nobody. He puts on pads just like I put on pads, so I just had to make it happen. I knew it I scored, that could seal the game because I know our defense was going to hold on.”

Shivers’ touchdown run, just his third of the season, proved to be the deciding score Saturday night, as Auburn’s defense held on late and Alabama missed a potential tying field goal with 2 minutes to play before the Tigers ultimately drew a game-sealing penalty on the Tide on a fourth-down gambit in the waning seconds.

If not for a particular series of events, though, Shivers likely would not have been in position to take that handoff, deliver that iconic hit on McKinney and score the decisive touchdown against Alabama.

The sophomore running back, who hadn’t run that particular play since early in the season, was only called upon in that scenario after a string of injuries to Auburn’s receiving corps. Anthony Schwartz, the Tigers’ typical go-to option on sweeps, sustained a leg injury on the first play of the game and never returned. Eli Stove, another sweep candidate who had seven carries on the season, was in and out of the game and at one point had to get an IV, according to the CBS broadcast. Matthew Hill, who saw an increased role the last couple of weeks, left the game at halftime and didn’t return.

So, with Auburn trailing by five and in the red zone, Gus Malzahn turned to Shivers on the sideline and asked him if he remembered how to run the play. Shivers responded affirmatively, and the sophomore was given his chance in a critical situation.

“We were four receivers down,” Malzahn said. “Shivers had been doing that earlier in the year, so we just plugged him in. He ran the guy over and knocked his helmet off and got in the end zone. That was a huge play. I think it was third down and 5, and that was a big play in the game.”

Shivers celebrated the touchdown with his teammates, not knowing that he hit McKinney so hard that his helmet popped straight into the air. He may have been the only one in the sold-out stadium to not notice it.

"Hey — psssssh. Hey, that little guy got some oomph to him,” safety Jeremiah Dinson said. “The way he did it, I ain't gonna lie, he hyped me up — because I know him. You go back and look at his high school highlights, little man runs everybody over. So, I already knew when he was coming around the corner that he ain't gonna give you no wiggle; he's gonna run through you.

“Man, that's something I've seen him do through high school, just being from Florida, being from down South. That's what I seen him do his freshman year, so — but man, that got me hyped right there. That was one of the biggest plays of the game, if you ask me."

As Dinson explained, Shivers’ collision with McKinney may have been startling, but it wasn’t surprising to anyone familiar with Shivers. Shivers may be known as a speedster — he was a track star in high school and runs track in the offseason at Auburn — but despite his 5-foot-7, 179-pound frame, he has always been more of a power runner than a scatback.

Shivers is more likely to seek out contact than he is to juke a defender out of his shoes, and that’s just how he has always been.

“I mean, it’s football,” Shivers said, “so deliver the hit.”

Shivers’ run not only put Auburn ahead for good, but it capped a relatively strong rushing performance overall by the Tigers. They didn’t quite reach their goal of 200 rushing yards against the Tide, but they finished with 181 yards — the third-most allowed by Alabama this season — and averaged 5.32 yards per carry, which was the most surrendered by the Tide in 21 games.

And though Shivers may not have realized in the moment what he did in delivering a critical blow to Alabama — both literally and figuratively — he’s confident that the man he replaced on that specific play, Schwartz, would have done the same.

“Flash would have did it,” Shivers said. “We’re both from the same area, both from Broward County, that’s what we do.”