Nov. 6, 2016
By Charles Goldberg
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. - You should know the Josh Holsey story by now. He has come back from two knee surgeries. He has been playing tough.
He has made two huge interceptions the last two weeks to insure Auburn wins.
The Auburn defensive back first did it when he intercepted an Ole Miss pass at the Auburn 28 in a close game in Oxford. And he did it again Saturday against Vanderbilt, stealing a pass at the Auburn 18-yard line with 36 seconds left to preserve a 23-16 win.
"It feels good, especially with what I've been through. And I've been through a lot," Holsey said. "To help my team win the game, there's no better feeling."
And there's no better feeling than, ouch, the celebration that ensued after Holsey's interception.
"Especially when you have your teammates running on top of you," Holsey said. "They were slapping my head a little bit too hard. Other than that, it's a great feeling when you know you kind of sealed the deal. That was a crucial moment in the game."
Fellow Auburn defensive back Tray Matthews said get used to it.
"That's a big-time play and he's a big-time player. He came in the clutch again, so we have to beat him up, we have to jump on him and celebrate with him," Matthews said.
Holsey said he saw Vandy quarterback Kyle Shurmur "patting the ball too many times," so he figured something was up on the fateful play. "I just felt something was going to be behind me." So Holsey, like at Ole Miss, stepped in front of the receiver and made an interception.
"Josh is one of our leaders and he finds a way to win," said coach Gus Malzahn, a week after calling Holsey's interception at Ole Miss the play of the game.
Auburn played without some injured linebackers, then lost Deshaun Davis, who was ejected on a targeting call. Still, Vanderbilt scored only one touchdown as Auburn stood tall in the closing moments.
"It's the will of the team," Holsey said. "It's the teammates and coaching staff that we preach this kind of stuff. They preached this each and every week that adversity is going to happen, and you have to know how to overcome it. We prepare for those situations at the end of the game. When they come, it's no pressure. As a team, we know how to fight and we know how to win. There's a lot of guys on this team that know how to fight."
Here are our stories about Auburn's win over Vanderbilt...
- Auburn jumps into Top 10 in national polls
- 'Great feeling to finally get one': First TD catch for Darius Slayton
- Auburn's Kamryn Pettway piles up yards, but joins injury club
- 'Coach, I can go': Sean White rallies Auburn past Vanderbilt
- 'We've got a lot of guys who can play:' Darrell Williams leads linebackers
- Gamer: Sean White comes on to lead Auburn past Vandy
Charles Goldberg is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @AUGoldMine
Shhh... For the second straight week, Josh Holsey seals an Auburn victory with an interception. Sixth straight win for Auburn. This video: