Celebrations a Plenty Following the Auburn Win over ULM

The festivities didn’t stop at the win over Louisiana-Monroe, as plenty of milestones were reached in the game

A win plus milestones made it a fun day for the Auburn Tigers / Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Going into today, the Auburn Tigers had not had the opportunity to celebrate a win with their fans since Sept. 14. Saturday was finally the day. 

The celebration was not just for the win, however. There were milestones to celebrate. 

Jarquez Hunter rushed for 102 yards off 14 carries to cross the 1,000-rushing-yard plateau on the season. It’s the first time in his college career that he’s reached the mark. 

"It is very special to me,” Hunter said. “I can add it to all the other things in Auburn. It’s very special. It helps when my offensive line, tight ends and receivers work to get me there. It was very special today."

Along with Hunter’s milestone. Payton Thorne tied the school record with five passing touchdowns. He did this despite the uncertainty of him even playing due to an injury he suffered during the Vanderbilt loss. 

“Couldn’t be prouder of him,” Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said

Cam Coleman has not had the freshman campaign many expected from him. A nagging shoulder injury slowed him down after Auburn’s loss to Cal. Coleman sent a reminder of his potential today by making multiple spectacular catches, including a one-handed snag in the endzone.

Coleman’s eight catch, three touchdown performance brought his yard-total to 100, narrowly placing him second behind KeAndre Lambert-Smith’s 104.

“He did a really good job today,” Thorne said. “He only needed one hand, so that was sweet. He is a great athlete, and it's fun playing with him. These young guys have a long career ahead of them. I'm sure he will keep working. That is all he does, so more and more of those plays will show up for him.”

Two debuts were made today as Walker White and Ian Vachon saw the field for the first time in an Auburn uniform.

White, a redshirt freshman quarterback, completed two passes for 18 yards and added 18 yards on the ground.

"I had an anticipation that if we were up pretty big in this game that this would happen, that I would go in and get a chance to get in there and feel the defense and some live action,” White said. “So I was prepared. I feel like this whole season I've been trying to prepare like the starting quarterback.”

Vachon, a walk-on redshirt freshman kicker, transferred to Auburn after Birmingham Southern closed its doors. Vachon got the start at place kicker and went 2-of-2 on field goal attempts with a long of 26 yards and a perfect 6-of-6 on PAT attempts.

“I found out Thursday afternoon, but my parents found out Tuesday morning,” Vachon said. “They knew but kept it a secret from me so Coach (Tanner) Burns could tell me. He wanted to make sure they would be coming to the game.”

Auburn’s defense has been celebrating the way its young players have been performing all season and that continued today. Kayin Lee, despite being just a sophomore himself, has taken on a leadership role for the Tigers on that side of the ball.

“We just have a pact on defense,” Lee said. “We’re selfless, we’re prepared and we embrace everything that comes our way. So, that’s our biggest thing. If anything goes bad or good, we’re just good. We’re with the mindset that we want everything that comes our way. We’re just going to take it on.”

Freshman Demarcus Riddick, who has been an important piece of the Tigers’ linebacker unit this season, made his first start today and impressed veteran Jalen McLeod.

“For how well he played, I didn’t know that it was his first time,” McLeod said. “But he did the same thing he did all year versus when y’all first saw him at Oklahoma. He just wanted to keep on getting better. That’s all he’s used to. That’s Demarcus (Riddick), he’s ready.”

The Tigers have not had a lot to celebrate this season, so they will enjoy this win until getting back to work on Monday.