Auburn’s Xavier Atkins Details ‘Encore Performance’ for 2026

After a dominant 2025 season, Auburn Tigers linebacker Xavier Atkins netted American Football Coaches Association All-American honors. On Friday, he told Auburn legend Takeo Spikes in an interview that his story with the Tigers is still being written.

Atkins is the first Tiger since Roger McCreary in 2021 to net All-American honors, as well as the first Auburn linebacker to earn the award since Karlos Dansby in 2003. Spikes asked Atkins what his ‘encore performance’ in 2026 would be like, and here is what he had to say.

“It’s gonna be the same, but even better, like technique-wise and all that,” Atkins said. “It’s the small things that get you the edge, you know. Every linebacker can run and every linebacker can do something at a high level, but can you keep doing those same little things over and over, keeping that discipline.”

My fellow @AuburnFootball All American LB @XavierAtkins8 is gearing up for an encore season & I’m here for it!!

Tap in to the full interview on @thebtmpodcast https://t.co/EasPn7MtwP #wareagle 🦅 #wde pic.twitter.com/jSifGPVIve
— Takeo Spikes, MBA (@TakeoSpikes51) March 28, 2026

Last season, Atkins accumulated a staggering 60 solo tackles and 84 total tackles, while tacking on nine sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception. Despite such impressive numbers, Atkins is focused on his game, as well as his leadership under new head coach Alex Golesh.

“My leadership is like doing stuff the correct way,” he said. “Showing freshmen and sophomores how to practice, why you should practice like a pro, because how you practice translates to the field, and that’s true. People watching you when you think nobody watching.”

Atkins, who transferred in from LSU ahead of his sophomore campaign, will be a junior heading into his second season with the Tigers. Despite last year representing most of his early-career playing time, Atkins jumped to the front of the line and eventually became the headliner for a top-tier Auburn defense.

As such, it was big news when Atkins announced that he would be staying on the Plains after the firing of Hugh Freeze, as many now-former Tigers quickly jumped into the Transfer Portal. Now, he has the opportunity to lead another potentially dominant Tiger defense, while also imparting his newfound wisdom upon new Tigers, who represent a large portion of the squad’s makeup this year.

As spring practice for the Tigers wears on, Atkins will continue to develop his game while leading other players in hopes of bringing the Tigers out of the pit they have been in throughout the last few seasons.

It is a new era under Alex Golesh, and Atkins, along with many other returning and new Tigers, seem ready to prove to their new coach that they are who they say they are, which is a group of top-level players who are willing to fight and die for each other on the field.

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