Dec. 28, 2017
By Greg Ostendorf
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. -- It's easy to overlook Chandler Cox. The junior fullback has just one rushing attempt and six catches this season. In his three years at Auburn, he's played in 38 games with 33 starts, and he's only accounted for 136 all-purpose yards and one touchdown. It's safe to say he's not winning any awards with those numbers.
But stats aren't what define Cox. It's the little things or the "dirty work" as he calls it that takes the Auburn offense to another level.
"At the end of the day, I'm not really worried about stats or awards," Cox said. "I'm playing Division I football for Auburn. I'm playing, and I'm starting for the Auburn Tigers. I'm helping this team as much as I can, and that's what matters to me the most."
One of those plays that epitomizes Cox and his role on the team came two months ago at Texas A&M. Teammate Kerryon Johnson scored on a short touchdown run, and while he was busy celebrating in the end zone, there was Cox lying on his back at the goal line. He had just made the key block that helped Johnson score, but the majority of fans probably missed that.
In football, it's always the guy who scores that typically gets all the credit.
"That's not a problem to me," Cox said. "For a lot of guys, it might be a problem. It's `Look at me, look at me.' But for me, it's never been like that, even in high school. Now in these stadiums with thousands and thousands of people watching, they see Kerryon go score and they love up on Kerryon. As long as he's getting his love, I'm happy.
"At the end of the day, it's not about me. It's not about what I do out there. As long as I'm helping Kerryon or Kam [Martin] or Jarrett [Stidham] or anybody on this team, I'm happy. That's where I get my pleasure from. That's where I get my joy."
It's that unselfish attitude and blue-collar mentality that have made Cox one of the team favorites. Whether it's the coaching staff giving him a helmet sticker one week or Johnson thanking him after a touchdown run, it's clear that his coaches and teammates see what he does each and every week. They know what type of impact he has on the offense.
"He's extremely valuable to us, kind of an unsung hero," Auburn offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey said. "He's really adapted well. He's the epitome of an Auburn man. He's a blue-collar guy that goes to work every day, doesn't say a whole lot, and we're glad we have him."
"He doesn't get a lot of credit, but he deserves it," added Stidham. "He's always working as hard, if not harder, than anybody else."
Earlier this season, Gus Malzahn compared Cox to former Auburn fullback Jay Prosch in the way that they play, their physicality and how they both serve as coaches on the field. It was the ultimate compliment to Cox, who has been trying to live up to the standard Prosch set when he was with the Tigers from 2010 to 2013.
"I came here, and I wanted to make an impact," Cox said. "They've always talked about Jay Prosch. `Can Chandler Cox be the next Jay Prosch?' I wanted to take that mindset and take that next step and be better than Jay Prosch. That kind of motivated me to be better than that.
"I still have a long way to go, a lot of hard work still to put in, to be where Jay was and even take it to the next level -- but to hear that from [Malzahn], it just means a lot to me."
In August, Prosch signed a three-year, $5.75 million contract extension with the Houston Texans, proving that hard work can pay off. Cox has his own dreams of one day playing on Sundays, but there's plenty of "dirty work" still to be done at Auburn, beginning with Monday's Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl against UCF (11:30 p.m. CT, ESPN).
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @greg_ostendorf