TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Iron Bowl might be the biggest rivalry in college football, but the moment wasn't too big for Auburn freshman Anthony Schwartz on Saturday.
Midway through the first quarter, the Tigers had the ball 1st-and-goal from the 9-yard line, and they called Schwartz's number. It was a jet sweep, and they told the freshman to simply "outrun everyone." So he took the handoff, sprinted to his right and outran the Alabama defense on his way to the end zone. It was his fourth rushing touchdown of the season and his sixth touchdown overall.
"It was great," Schwartz said. "It's one of the biggest games in all of sports. Scoring, especially as a freshman, it's just a great feeling. And knowing that I'm always getting better."
The final outcome didn't go Auburn's way, but it's hard not to be excited about what this freshman class has done for the Tigers this season.
"I'm very excited," Schwartz said. "We have a whole bunch of freshman that are playing this year. We've got room to grow. So now, especially with a year under our belt, we have the system down, and I feel like next year we're going to have a lot more to prove."
In addition to the touchdown run, Schwartz caught three passes for 10 yards Saturday and moved up to sixth all-time among Auburn freshman receivers with 307 receiving yards on the season. Teammate Seth Williams is third on that list with 479 receiving yards in his first year.
At running back, freshman JaTarvious Whitlow accounted for 88 total yards against Alabama and leads the team with 777 rushing yards this season despite battling injuries all year. After Saturday's game, he climbed to fourth all-time among Auburn freshmen in rushing yards, passing Travis Tidwell (772 in 1946). He only needs 52 yards in the bowl game to pass Bo Jackson for third.
Fellow freshman running back Shaun Shivers showed what he was capable of with a 75-yard touchdown run in the first quarter Saturday that was called back for holding. Still, he's third on the team with 338 rushing yards this season and is averaging nearly six yards a carry.
"I think a lot of people lose sight of the fact that Boobee Whitlow and Shaun Shivers are just freshmen," Auburn wide receiver Darius Slayton said. "They have a lot to learn. Somebody like Kerryon [Johnson] leaves and people are like, 'Oh man, we don't have any more talented backs.' Well, you were seeing the junior version of Kerryon. He was good when he was a freshmen, too, but he wasn't what he was when he was a junior.
"And so I think you'll see the same progression out of our young backs."
After Saturday, that freshman quartet of Schwartz, Williams, Whitlow and Shivers has now accounted for nearly 2,200 yards of total offense this season. That's not to mention other freshmen skill players like Asa Martin, Harold Joiner, Shedrick Jackson and Matthew Hill, who all gained valuable experience at one time or another during the year. They are all expected to return along with the majority of the offense.
With that in mind, head coach Gus Malzahn is confident that Auburn will bounce back next year.
"We have a whole bunch of young guys," Malzahn said after the game Saturday. "The majority of our team will come back. We'll rebound from this. I promise you that. We got beat pretty good two years ago here. We bounced back the next year. I expect us to do the same thing."
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @greg_ostendorf