‘A family like that’: Williams overwhelmed by support from Auburn teammates

AUBURN, Ala. – Two hours before kickoff, there were fans everywhere along Donahue Drive for Tiger Walk. The students started filling into Jordan-Hare Stadium even earlier and roared when Carnell Williams walked on to the field for the first time. The moment Williams walked his team out of the tunnel before kickoff, it was deafening. It stayed that way until long after the final whistle. 

The Auburn Family showed up in a big way last Saturday to support Williams in his first home game as interim head coach, and he will forever be thankful for that.

But the part of the weekend that resonated with Williams the most was seeing his former teammates on the sideline. They, too, showed up in a big way to support their brother.

“It meant everything to me,” Williams said. “We all came to Auburn together not knowing what to expect. We fought – from the workouts to the hardships, from the losing to the winning, to the heartbreaks, to always being at each other’s weddings. To have a moment where you’re the head guy and then to have the support and your friends come back and all the love, it’s just overwhelming. I’m so blessed to have friends, to have a family like that, that truly supports me and wants to see me succeed.”

“That was my favorite part about Saturday, to be honest with you.” 

When Williams was first named interim head coach, Carlos Rogers laughed. He couldn’t believe it. “They really named you the next head coach?” Rogers asked his former teammate and roommate.

But Rogers, a consensus All-American in 2004, knew there was no better man for the job.

“He made history,” Rogers said. “Being the first African American to coach Auburn. It means so much to me, and it means so much to him. And it means so much to the Auburn Family. Of course, they want to see the players play, but all these fans want to see Carnell. It’s like he’s still playing. It’s an unbelievable thing.”

“He’s made for this,” added former Auburn linebacker Karlos Dansby. “He’s home-grown. He knows what Auburn means. It means more to him to be in that position, and it’s a blessing. The energy is just crazy right now. I’m loving every second of it.”

On Saturday, Rogers and Dansby were on the sideline before the game catching up with the likes of Devin Aromashodu, Ronnie Brown, Jason Campbell, Will Herring, Marcus McNeill and Ben Obomanu just to name a few. It was like a reunion of the teams from the early 2000s. 

It had been about three years since James Swinton had been back to Auburn for a game, but the former wide receiver who played with Williams made sure he was in attendance Saturday. 

“For me, it’s pretty amazing,” Swinton said. “I just know the energy Cadillac had when he was playing here at Auburn, and I feel like for it to come around full circle to where he’s having that chance to coach and be the head coach of this great university, I’m just so happy for him. There are not many words to say how I feel.

“This is one of the reasons why I came back down. To see him here and him being able to get these troops energized back up, I love it. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Not that Williams needed any help getting his team ready to play Saturday, but he got it from his former teammates who were in the locker room before the game hyping up the current players before they took the field. Afterwards, they were all in there celebrating together.

“I’m just happy for Caddy,” Auburn senior Colby Wooden said after the game. “The way all of Auburn came out, how his former teammates came back and were with us – they were ready to go play with us. They brought back the true meaning of what it means to be an Auburn Tiger.”

Former Auburn offensive lineman Cole Cubelic was also there Saturday, serving as the sideline reporter for SEC Network. Cubelic and Williams missed each other by a year at Auburn, but there’s still a connection there, a fraternity they both belong to.

So, the week before at Mississippi State when Cubelic conducted the first TV interview with Williams as the interim head coach at Auburn, it was a moment he will never forget.

“For him to be the first African American head coach in Auburn football history, for me to have the first question on television with him before he went out and took that team on the field, and then just his pause right before he answered was really all I needed,” Cubelic said. “Honestly, it’s about as emotional as I have been in an interview I have done.

“I can’t imagine anything that I will do will be more special than that. For a lot of obvious reasons – the history with him involved, me having played at Auburn – it seemed everything just kind of aligned right there. It was a pretty amazing moment.”

I'm not sure I'll have a more meaningful moment in my career. Unforgettable.
📷 @fototodd pic.twitter.com/9zVbo6ycQh

— Cole Cubelic (@colecubelic) November 6, 2022

Saturday night in Jordan-Hare Stadium did not disappoint either. Rather than ride over with his counterparts, Cubelic left 15 minutes early and walked from the hotel to the stadium to take in all the fans and the atmosphere around campus. He had his family there with him. It was the first Auburn game for his two youngest kids.

Cubelic knew it would be a special night because of the love for Carnell Williams.

“There’s just a lot of support for him, how beloved he was,” Cubelic said. “I think how genuine he is brings a lot of that out. And two, I think it shows how hungry Auburn fans are for anything positive and wanting to see things be turned around.”

Before the game Saturday, Dansby looked around in awe at all the fans in a sold-out Jordan-Hare Stadium

“This is how it’s supposed to be,” he said. “This is exactly how it’s supposed to be. To see it like this, it’s incredible. I knew it was going to be big, but to see (Williams) like that in this position, it’s perfect timing for him.”