Auburn’s Game Against New Mexico Means Reunion for Defensive Lineman

Veteran Auburn Tigers defensive lineman Philip Blidi will see a lot of familiar faces when the Tigers take on New Mexico on Saturday.

Auburn Tigers defensive lineman Philip Blidi is an Indiana Hoosiers transfer from the state of New Mexico /

The Auburn Tigers host the New Mexico Lobos this weekend for their second to last non-conference game of the regular season.

Auburn will be looking to earn another convincing win and iron some things out ahead of conference play. On the field, games like this often get overshadowed by what’s next, but for one Auburn player, it has been circled on the calendar for a while.

Philip Blidi, a veteran defensive lineman who joined the Tigers via the transfer portal this offseason, went to high school in New Mexico and has numerous connections to the Lobos football team.

“The head coach there (Bronco Mendenhall), he’s real good friends with my head coach from high school,” Blidi said. “A lot of the players there, I played against in high school too. I was one of the top players in the state so I know a lot of people from that area and I still have a lot of relationships in that area. It’s going to be really cool seeing some familiar faces.”

New Mexico, a state with the 15th smallest population in the country, is a place that many people in the southeastern region of the country do not know much about. Blidi likes New Mexico and enjoyed his time there.

“There’s a lot of space and really friendly people,” Blidi said. “Great Mexican food, it has a lot of land, a lot of people go hunting there. It has great scenery, a lot of great mountains there. We used to go up to the mountains and spend weekends there.”

Blidi moved to Auburn along with his wife Emma and two children, Amara and Brooks. The family has settled in nicely and it did not take long for the Blidi family to feel at home on the Plains.

“They have loved it,” Blidi said. “This experience here, there is no other place like Jordan-Hare Stadium. When we got to experience Tiger Walk, it was breathtaking. They really love the gameday experience. They love the stadium and how hectic it was. That was something they really loved and they enjoyed that experience.”

Blidi and the Tigers will take on New Mexico on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT. ESPN2 will carry the broadcast.