Alex Golesh Teases Comeback Year for Key Auburn Defender

Over the past few seasons, the Auburn Tigers have boasted a series of highly impressive defenses, but one key piece has been missing for large parts of the past two seasons: safety Champ Anthony, who has suffered two different broken leg injuries and a broken thumb and has yet to turn in a full season.

When Anthony is on the field, the unit seems to have more energy and more drive, as the junior college transfer is famed for his high-flying, hard-hitting defense. If you have seen the clip of an Auburn safety laying out an Arkansas receiver from two seasons ago, that was Anthony, just before injuring his leg on the very next play.

At SEC Media Days, where Anthony was a representative of the Tigers, new Auburn head coach Alex Golesh was asked why, specifically, he chose to bring Anthony to the conference.

“Champ is a young man that has overcome about as much as anybody in our program,” he said. “A young man since the day I got there has stood on the table for being at Auburn, leading the right way… has said over and over again, ‘Coach, just find a way to get me on the field and I'll do everything in my power to help Auburn win football games.’”

Many Auburn fans are quite happy with the fact that Golesh chose both Anthony and kicker Alex McPherson as representatives for Auburn at SEC Media Days, as the two have both proven that they believe in Auburn and love it, as well as displayed incredible, borderline inhuman perseverance.

Like McPherson, Anthony has not been deterred from having an impact on his team, even when he needed a scooter just to get around. Golesh, interestingly, chose not to focus on the on-field accolades of either McPherson or Anthony when talking about them at SEC Media Days, but rather their perseverance, effort and how they represent the program they love.

“[Anthony is] inspirational in every way,” Golesh said. “He is the first guy I see every morning when I walk into the building, rehabbing to get right. He is finally cleared. He's ready to rock and roll. In the spring, when he couldn't go, literally, I would have to pull him off the field because he was out there coaching his tail off. Champ represents everything you want an Auburn man to be, overcoming adversity, and I just absolutely can't wait for him to have the year that he deserves to have.”

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