Tiger Walk for players, fans alike

AUBURN — The buses arrived shortly after 4:30 p.m.

Like ants marching through a sea of spilled orange Kool-Aid, Auburn football players, led by seniors Quentin Groves and Brandon Cox, filed out of the buses Saturday and tunneled their way through the legendary “Tiger Walk,” slapping hands with crazed fans.

The band played in the background as orange and blue pom-poms flashed through the air.

“Waaaaar Eagle!” they chanted.

“Gooooo Tigers!” others yelled.

The players, with coach Tommy Tuberville at the helm, paraded through the 8-foot-wide space between the metal barriers that kept out the raving crowd. For nearly a quarter of a mile down Donahue Drive, they stretched, sandwiched between the stands of Plainsman Park baseball stadium and the brick circular arena they call Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum, where the basketball team plays.

Fans stood 20 deep lining the road, lunging over the barriers to get just a touch of Tuberville’s suit or a feel of Groves’ mesh blue shirt.

King Dunlap’s newly cut mohawk bobbed over the crowd as chants of “King, King, King,” echoed through the alley.

Following just behind the senior tackle was running back Brad Lester, who was suspended for the game because of lingering academic issues. But he still marched with the team, sporting a bright white hat and orange mesh AU shorts.

Just behind the junior tailback walked true freshman Lee Ziemba, who, like this writer, took part in his first Tiger Walk.

His Atlanta Braves hat was pulled low, almost completely hiding his eyes as he slapped hands with the thousands of fans who now put their trust in his blocking ability.

A step behind Groves toward the front of the line strutted “Hollywood” himself: Carl Stewart. The senior fullback is expected by many of those same fans, who slapped his shoulders and patted his back, to be the anchor of the Auburn running game.

Mr. Versatility, Stewart will not only block for the tailback but also become one himself on occasion, providing the Tigers with key depth in the backfield and depth at receiver. Stewart, when not blocking or running the ball, will catch passes from Cox.

Speaking of Cox, there he walked just behind “Hollywood” in a sort of quiet, focused mode. He had a hat pulled down over his face, and his eyes looked straight ahead as his arms were spread as if signaling a field goal. His hand pounded those around him.

As the players filed into the stadium, so did I. Of course, through a different gate.

I took my seat in the press box to begin my wait to see these Auburn Tigers face the Big 12 Conference’s Kansas State Wildcats, their season-opening opponent.

Shortly thereafter, the Auburn Band came marching in through the end zone tunnel, stopping a percussion rhythm every couple of minutes to play a fight song.

And then, there they were. Decked in their blue tops and white pants with their white helmets, the players emerged from the end zone tunnel leaping into the air as they spilled out onto the field for warm-ups.

A half-filled Jordan-Hare Stadium, immersed mostly in orange and blue, welcomed them happily. But a small portion of purple-clad Kansas State fans, stuck in the north end zone corner, watched anxiously. They probably had never seen anything like this, perhaps not even on a trip to Nebraska, which the Wildcats take every other year.

Welcome to Southeastern Conference college football.