Tigermike 3,046 Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 AU keeping the faithThanks to team chaplain, Tigers find their focus Thursday, December 02, 2004 By PHILLIP MARSHALL Times Sports Staff pmarsh9485@msn.com AUBURN - Locked together, arm-in-arm, they sing loudly, forcefully, sometimes off-key. More than 100 men, young and old, black and white, sway back and forth to the words of the song. I'm a hard fighting soldier on the battlefield, I'm a hard fighting soldier on the battlefield I'm a hard fighting soldier on the battlefield I keep on bringin' souls to Jesus By the service that I give I've got a helmet on my head, in my hand a sword and shield I've got a helmet on my head, in my hand a sword and shield I've got a helmet on my head, in my hand a sword and shield I keep on bringin' souls to Jesus By the service that I give You gotta walk right, talk right, sing right, pray right, on the battlefield. You gotta walk right, talk right, sing right, pray right, on the battlefield. You gotta walk right, talk right, sing right, pray right, on the battlefield. I keep on bringin' souls to Jesus By the service that I give I'm a hard fighting soldier on the battlefield In that song, Auburn team chaplain Chette Williams says, is the story of Auburn football, 2004. He takes a medallion from his desk that shows a Roman soldier on one side and a scripture on the other. He points out the clip on the soldier's side. "Whenever they were in hostile territory and they saw the enemy coming, they would all hook together," Williams says. "A soldier had to be certain of the person beside him, that he was going to fight. Even if that person got hurt or wounded, the guy hooked up to him had to carry him through." Clinching moment On the night before Auburn clinched the Southeastern Conference West Division championship at Ole Miss, Williams talked to players about "hooking together." That has become a rallying cry for Auburn's football team. And a song came to define a football team. Defensive end Kyle Derozan, who sang the song "Hard Fighting Soldiers" in his church, introduced it to his teammates at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting. Early in the season, they began to sing it at their Friday night meetings before games. After they beat Ole Miss, they sang it in the locker room. The public got to see it when locker room footage was shown on coach Tommy Tuberville's weekly television show. "It's amazing," running backs coach Eddie Gran says. "You get in that locker room and you hook up with each other. "You have your arms around the guy next to you. It doesn't matter if he's black, white, red or yellow. You sing that song, and you have 140 of us doing that. It's something you'll never forget." Auburn players plan to "hook together" one more time Saturday. The No. 3 Tigers (11-0 and 8-0) play No. 15 Tennessee (9-2 and 7-1) in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. They'll try to take home Auburn's first SEC championship since 1989 and make their case that they should play for the national championship in the Orange Bowl. Family affair Any conversation about this season turns soon to team unity and chemistry. Williams, a running back on Auburn's 1983 SEC championship team, is at the core of it all. Tuberville brought him back to the school as team chaplain in 1999. "This is a very special team," Williams says. "The senior leadership, the spiritual leadership, I've never seen anything like it. "Auburn is always talking about family. I've never seen it as much of a family as I've seen this year." Williams is a man of many secrets. Players go to him for advice on the typical problems of college students and for help with deeper, darker problems. "Brother Chette" is always around - at practice, at study hall, at early morning workouts. "Brother Chette is one of those guys you are just glad you got to know," nose guard T.J. Jackson says. "He's done as much for this program as any football player. He's the kind of guy you name your kid after." Williams went through turbulent times himself early in his Auburn football career. On the field, he was part of the demanding early Pat Dye years. "That's one of the great things about Chette," Tuberville says. "He's been there. "He understands what these guys are going through. He helps the older guys grow and the younger guys get on the ship." Senior Carnell Williams says his coach is on target. "I think Brother Chette is like a father away from home," Carnell Williams says. When you know a guy has played and has been through what you've been through, you tend to hone in more on what he says. "I've seen guys come in here who were just complete troublemakers. We sent them to see Brother Chette and they turned (180) degrees." His influence doesn't stop with the men who play. Chette Williams has touched the coaches and others who are part of the program. "That was probably Tommy Tuberville's greatest hire," Gran says. "There are players that are still here because of him. "He's helped them out of holes they never thought they could get out of. He's changed my life. I'm a better husband, better father, better coach because of Chette Williams." Williams, who serves as campus director and state director of urban ministries for the FCA, has helped mend broken families and relationships. He has consoled in times of grief and shown strength in times of crisis. "When they are struggling with something or maybe they are in trouble with something that they can't talk to the coaches about or call home about, I think that's when I'm really there for them," Williams says. "I try to pride myself in being a positive role model. I think that is the more important to me than anything else." link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woods1110 0 Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 THAT is why it's great to be an AUBURN TIGER!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DKW 86 7,438 Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 THAT is why it's great to be an AUBURN TIGER!! 128384[/snapback] Ditto! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiger1980 1 Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 I rarely post, but enjoy reading this board very much. Everything I hear and read tells me that my common sense dictates that there is no way to get to the Orange Bowl with SC and OK having easily winnable games tomorrow. But I still believe that the best is yet to come for the 2004 AU team. This group has come too far to not make it all the way. Maybe I'm being unrealistic and whether you call it destiny, belief in a higher power or whatever, I feel this team will bring it home. I think of the movie "Miracle on 34th Street" where the film imparted its essential message of good, the importance of faith in love, and faith in believing in things "even in the face of common sense." This Auburn team is very special and we will remember them forever. War Eagle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle76 1 Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 Regardless of which bowl we play in, this has been a very special year for the players, coaches, and fans. I hope that after the bcs selection committee has done its deed, that the entire AUNation gets behind the team and does not moan and graon about what shoud have been (if we are not in the ob). We need to focus all the positive energy we can on our team and show the rest of the bcs world that AUBURN is keeping the faith and has taken the high road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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