A winner and loser from Auburn's spring practice

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USA TODAY Sports names a winner and loser from Auburn's spring practice

Jake Crandall via Imagn Content Services, LLC

JD McCarthy

 

April 27, 2022 11:16 am CT

 

Spring football has ended across the country and we can now take a look at how each team’s standing after the practices.

As always some players performed better than expected and increased their stock. But if someone improved their stock then someone’s standing had to decrease. This is true for every team across the SEC and USA TODAY Sports reporter Bennett Durrando named his biggest winner and loser for Auburn.

His biggest winner of the spring was running back coach Cadillac Williams who was a key reason the Tank Bigsby, Auburn’s top offensive player, is still on the Plains.

Running backs coach Cadillac Williams kept Tank Bigsby around after the offense’s best player considered entering (but never did enter) the transfer portal. Now Williams gets to coach him in an even bigger role as the Tigers shifted their emphasis to Tank-first this spring.

Bigsby rushed for 1,099 yards and 10 touchdowns as a sophomore. Despite surpassing the 1,000-yard mark, many expected more from Bigsby after looking like one of the best running backs in the SEC as a freshman. But a running back depends on his offensive line and Auburn’s took a step back last season, making Bigsby’s job that much harder.

The biggest loser to Durrando was Zach Calzada, who was limited in spring with a shoulder injury and is expected to contend for the starting quarterback job once healthy.

Transfer quarterback Zach Calzada didn’t play in the spring game (shoulder). He’ll be healthy soon with a chance to start, but the injury left room for Robby Ashford’s impressive A-Day.

Entering spring practices Auburn had a battle for the starting quarterback back job with all five scholarship quarterbacks having a chance to win the job. Making the competition even tougher was Calzada’s injury, preventing him from doing the same drills as the rest of the contenders.

This allowed Ashford a bigger opportunity and he took advantage. He completed 12-of-16 passes for 132 yards and showcased his rushing ability against the first-team defense and was named the A-Day offensive MVP.

Calzada will have a chance to show why the coaching staff brought him in this offseason when he is fully healthy in the fall.

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So who was it that kept Tank on the planes? Cadillac! If not for Caddy we would’ve lost both Bo and Tank.

Running backs coach Cadillac Williams keptTank Bigsby around after the offense’s bestplayer considered entering (but never didenter) the transfer portal.