Brian Battie Stays at Auburn

[toddc 13,194]

Auburn RB Brian Battie withdraws from NCAA Transfer Portal

Cole Pinkston

AUBURN — Auburn running back Brian Battie has withdrawn from the NCAA transfer portal. Battie spent eight days in the portal before withdrawing. He is the second Auburn player to withdraw along with nickel/corner Keionte Scott. Battie played three seasons at South Florida before coming to Auburn and has one year of eligibility remaining.

Bookmark the Auburn Live Scholarship Tracker and keep tabs on current football roster numbers throughout the recruiting and transfer portal season.

Bookmark the Auburn football transfer portal offer running tracker as updates happen in real time.

Career production: Ran for 227 yards this year and was also the team’s kick returner. Before Auburn, he ran for 1,186 yards in 2022 at USF.

[toddc 13,194]

Who said CHF can’t recruit the portal?

[imaolgatiger 523]

I’m happy that he’s back! War Damn, Battie!

[Browning4AU 405]

This is a win IMO. Hope he hits his stride in returns this year. 

[W.E.D 11,070]

Looking forward to more kneels, fair catches, and better field position

[aucat 69]

1 hour ago, toddc said:

Who said CHF can’t recruit the portal?

rite, those r 2  big names!

[CCTAU 3,327]

1 hour ago, W.E.D said:

Looking forward to more kneels, fair catches, and better field position

That’s a tough one. He’s proven he can be a dynamic returner. However, in the SEC it’s a bit more difficult. 
On one hand you want the sure field position. On the other, you gotta be in it to win it. 
My big worry is how many carries does this take away from Cobb. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if Cobb was the starter. He seems to be special. 

[Auburn93 541]

Doubt there was anywhere to go. Just not worth the money. No one needs a slow small back. South Florida won't pay you anything. 

[Chaotic_zx 1,044]

Glad that he is coming back. By the way, can he catch punts? I'm asking for a friend. 

 

 

Edited January 10 by Chaotic_zx

[Mims44 1,871]

10 hours ago, toddc said:

Auburn RB Brian Battie withdraws from NCAA Transfer Portal

Cole Pinkston

AUBURN — Auburn running back Brian Battie has withdrawn from the NCAA transfer portal. Battie spent eight days in the portal before withdrawing. He is the second Auburn player to withdraw along with nickel/corner Keionte Scott. Battie played three seasons at South Florida before coming to Auburn and has one year of eligibility remaining.

Bookmark the Auburn Live Scholarship Tracker and keep tabs on current football roster numbers throughout the recruiting and transfer portal season.

Bookmark the Auburn football transfer portal offer running tracker as updates happen in real time.

Career production: Ran for 227 yards this year and was also the team’s kick returner. Before Auburn, he ran for 1,186 yards in 2022 at USF.

I'm good with this 👍

8 hours ago, CCTAU said:

That’s a tough one. He’s proven he can be a dynamic returner. However, in the SEC it’s a bit more difficult. 
On one hand you want the sure field position. On the other, you gotta be in it to win it. 
My big worry is how many carries does this take away from Cobb. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if Cobb was the starter. He seems to be special. 

7 hours ago, Auburn93 said:

Doubt there was anywhere to go. Just not worth the money. No one needs a slow small back. South Florida won't pay you anything. 

He didn't get a lot of carries so he doesn't get talked about much. And his hype was for returns which wasn't lived up to.

But that kinda overshadows that the guy did decent with his limited carries, averaged like 4 1/2 yards a carry. And some of the harder opponents were his better games. 

A&M: over 7 YPC

UGA 4.4 YPC

Arky he got 6 YPC.. not a tough opponent but still SEC.

LSU stifled him for 3.3

There weren't any other tough games where he got 5 carries or more. I could see the same for him for next year, doubt he'll go through any huge changes.

 

ALL that to say I wouldn't worry about him taking a good share of any other backs carries, but he's not dead weight either

[Viper 3,132]

Not a fan of this at all. He took away carries for Cobb. Cobb is a much bigger threat in the running game than Battie.

His kickoff decisions are very questionable. Even mild-mannered Jason Campbell jumped his case wasting precious time by returning the last kickoff in the IB. 

Concerned he will be the cause Cobb transfers. Was looking forward to him moving on.

[Sizzle 3,914]

Must’ve not got that much interest in the portal. He should’ve went to a smaller school so he could get more carries because I doubt his carries increase next year unless the offense takes a major step up and has more plays to where the ball can be spread around more 

[Viper 3,132]

1 hour ago, Sizzle said:

Must’ve not got that much interest in the portal. He should’ve went to a smaller school so he could get more carries because I doubt his carries increase next year unless the offense takes a major step up and has more plays to where the ball can be spread around more 

We have the same 4 backs. Not possible he’ll get more carries. Def should have followed the Shivers path.

[usf_football43 11]

Definitely thought he was under utilized this past season for Auburn and the backfield situation didn't help him much. The rumor tree has it that he reached back out to USF and Golesh said no to transferring back to USF. I understand why Golesh would have said no, however I also look at things from two different perspectives:

 

From my perspective, Battie kept his head down and did the right things when he played at USF. He maintained a low profile. He was well respected among his peers and around the community in general. I believe bringing him back would benefit Golesh due to Battie's personality. Battie was a step ahead of everyone on the field at USF. Battie could very well deliver the message that would resonate with other players in the locker room - entering the portal and making the switch even with the immense amount of talent he possessed did not end well and was detrimental to his future. He would have put up another 1,000 yard season at USF this past year. Now he's coming off the bench at Auburn averaging 3-6 carries per game.

 

We have an excellent QB (Byrum Brown) coming back this year that will be a sophomore this season - he had 3,200+ yards passing and 800+ yards rushing as a frosh in a new system. He will easily pass for 3,000+ with 1,000+ yards on the ground this year (assuming no injuries). There will be speculation about Brown getting in the portal next year. Battie would have been able to give him sound advice about the grass not necessarily being greener on the other side. Either way, the playoff going to 12-teams gives little guys like in the conference of misfit toys a more realistic chance of making the college football playoff than meddling P5 schools in the current super conferences. When a team makes the playoffs, anything can happen.

 

Life did get a bit easier on the Plains with Saban retiring - the question becomes - who do they get to fill those big shoes? Best of luck next year.