NASHVILLE – The week following the Iron Bowl, after sitting down with his family and going through all the pros and cons, Auburn quarterback Jarrett Stidham made the decision to declare early for the NFL draft and pursue a career at the next level.
"I went back and forth," Stidham said Wednesday. "I talked to a lot of people. I got good feedback. I just think for me personally, it's been a childhood dream of mine to play in the NFL ever since I was really little. It's a really big opportunity ahead of me, and obviously, I wouldn't be in this position without everybody that I've played with up to this point. So I can't thank them enough for helping me get to this point.
But I just think for my career, my personal life, my professional life, it's the right move."
The next decision for Stidham was whether or not he wanted to play in the bowl game. The new trend in college football is players sitting out the final game of the season to avoid injury and begin preparing for the NFL, but it was never really a choice for Stidham. He was always going to play.
"It's unfinished business," Stidham said. "I just felt like for me personally, I wanted to finish this season with the guys and try and finish this thing off the right way. I'm a proud alumni of Auburn University now, and so I wanted to leave Auburn in a good place, especially for next year and those guys that are coming back next year – give them a little momentum."
So Stidham, who has already etched his name in the Auburn record books in his two seasons on the Plains, will look to add one more victory when the Tigers play Purdue in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl on Friday.
The good news for Auburn fans is that the quarterbacks behind Stidham, in particular Joey Gatewood, have drawn rave reviews from teammates during the bowl practices.
"They've all done really well," Stidham said. "Each week, you can kind of see them progressing. All of them, they have bright futures."
'An explosive defense'
There's been a lot of talk leading up to the Music City Bowl about Purdue's "explosive" offense and freshman wide receiver Rondale Moore, one of the more electrifying players in college football. But if anybody is ready for the challenge it's the Auburn defense.
"We know we're playing against an explosive offense," linebacker Deshaun Davis said. "We feel like we're an explosive defense also. It's going to be strength on strength, so I'm hoping we can outdo their strength."
Maybe it's the Purdue offense. Maybe it's how they finished the last time out in the Iron Bowl. Whatever it is, there's been an extra sense of motivation during the bowl practices for Auburn.
"I'm not just saying this, but honestly these are probably the best two weeks of practice we've had all season," Davis said. "Guys have been locked in. Guys have been focused. We all signed up to come and get this victory. We all made a statement that we wanted to play our best football game this week, and Friday we're going to get the opportunity to do that."
Off to a hot start
Auburn and Purdue don't play until Friday at 12:30 p.m. CT from Nashville, but the Tigers secured the first victory of the bowl week Wednesday night when they took down the Boilermakers in a hot chicken eating contest at the Wild Horse Saloon as part of a welcome dinner for both teams.
Auburn was led by freshman offensive lineman Peyton Nance, who devoured a competition-best 14 pieces of chicken. The rest of the team was made up of seniors Jaunta'vius Johnson, Ryan Meneely and Tucker Brown, along with freshman Trent Kelley. They put down a total of 32 pieces of chicken.
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @greg_ostendorf
