On the Plains with Tae Meadows: ‘Living out my dream’

When former Troy walk-on running back Tae Meadows looks back on how far he has come in his football career and what he has accomplished, he’s proud of what he sees.

Set to graduate from Auburn University in May 2027, Meadows started playing contact football around the age of 7 originally as a defensive back, where he felt influenced by both his father and older brother.

Focusing on defense, Meadows went on to play tackle football in middle school and at Handley High School in Roanoke, Alabama. It wasn’t until his sophomore year when he transitioned to offense.

“They moved me to running back to see how things went and everything turned out perfectly in my favor,” Meadows said.

In 2020, Meadows was an important contributor to Handley’s state championship win over Gordo High School where he rushed for 264 yards, earning AHSAA Class 4A MVP honors.

Meadows recorded more than 2,000 rushing yards alongside an outstanding 33 rushing touchdowns that season.

He earned a spot at Troy and spent the past four seasons with the Trojans, playing in 22 games with 10 starts and running for 741 career yards with seven touchdowns. He earned a scholarship his final season at Troy and following a breakout year in 2025, he decided to transfer and enrolled in Auburn in January 2026.

Being excited to be at Auburn would be an understatement.

“My dream school was Auburn growing up,” Meadows said. “My family was originally Alabama fans, shoot dang near my whole city. But now I see my family all buy Auburn jerseys and everything. They are so happy to see me doing something that I grew up wanting to do and living out my dream at Auburn.”

Growing up in Alabama, the importance of the in-state rivalry has been ingrained into Meadows’ life.

“The Iron Bowl means a lot to me,” Meadows said. “The whole city of Roanoke came together to watch when I was growing up and now having the opportunity to play in that game – this was something that I have been dreaming about since I was really young.”

Now on the Plains, Meadows has enjoyed getting to build a brotherhood with his teammates, including his fellow running backs. He doesn’t take team bonding for granted and has loved to share his favorite hobby with his teammates – fishing.

“It’s been a brotherhood since I got here,” Meadows said. “I introduced the running back room to fishing and a majority of the time we go bass fishing when we can. But I’ve taken them catfishing, too, which they like more because they catch more.

“If I didn’t play football in my free time, it would be straight fishing,” Meadows added. “I could just go to AG’s (Alex Golesh) house and fish if I wanted to.”

Whether he’s out on the football field or casting a line, Meadows still has his sights set on his top goal after graduation, a chance to pursue his dream of playing in the NFL. Then, once his playing days are done, he’s interested in coaching.

“My brother (Malik Meadows) played and then coached at Faulkner University out of Montgomery, which inspired me and makes me want to pursue it when I’m done playing,” Meadows said.

That desire to coach comes out when he’s in the running back room.

“For me, I want to be the best man I can be on and off the field,” Meadows said. “I want to be the best mentor for the younger guys that come in because we have a couple of walk-ons in the room and I know what it feels like to be them when I first started out.”

As a senior whose collegiate career is ending, Meadows has had time to reflect on his road to Auburn and how the challenges have helped him become a better player and a better mentor to younger players just starting out.

“The challenges that I had to overcome was learning a different playbook every year, figuring out a new coach and staff,” Meadows said. “Coach Golesh is my third coach and my advice for the younger players and walk-ons is just stay down, stay grounded. There are going to be moments where you feel extremely down, tired, overwhelmed, but I always fall back to what my dad has always told me: God gives his hardest battles to his toughest soldiers.”

With his first season on the Plains and final season of college football quickly approaching, Meadows looks back on his football accomplishments and accolades throughout his entire career with pride.

“Man, I overachieved my goals,” Meadows said. “I never thought would I play football at an SEC school, especially starting out my career as a walk-on. I bet on myself and it worked out.”