Why Brian Battie will break out for Auburn football in 2023

Will Brian Battie be the breakout special teams performer at kick returner for Auburn football in 2023?

Joshua Collins | Jun 19, 2023

Why Brian Battie will break out for Auburn football in 2023 /

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Auburn Tigers

Returning with another installment of our “Break Out Performer” series, this time with a focus on the often underrated and underreported special teams play, we ask once more who on Auburn football’s roster will break out this 2023 season?

With this consideration in mind, we can return once more to the incredible haul of transfer portal and high school talent that Hugh Freeze and Co. has managed to reel in over the course of an impressive off-season. Fortunately enough, this decision was fairly easy to come to, as the coaching staff recognized a need to add a return specialist on special teams, and they subsequently succeeded with the addition of the University of South Florida running back Brian Battie.

Brian Battie comes to us by way of the transfer portal from USF, where he played 3 seasons as a running back and kick returner. The 5-foot-7, 170-pound consensus 4-Star running back hails from Sarasota, Florida where he played his senior season at Sarasota High School. After committing to the University of South Florida on April 17, of 2019, he instantly began producing impressive numbers as a kick returner. Through the course of his three seasons at USF Battie logged a total of 59 returns totaling to 1,427 yards, while raking in three touchdowns in the 2021 season alone.

Per the stat lines, Battie’s 2021 season was his most impressive season to date as a kick returner, averaging 32.5 yards per return. Despite showing a slight dip in stats on his 2022 seasons kick return performance, it should be noted that Brian Battie stepped into the RB1 role for USF that year as well, nearly tripling his number of snaps in the backfield from his previous season. His logging considerably more reps in the backfield likely affected his stat line for special teams.

With this in mind, I would confidently wager that Brian Battie will be the explosive break out performer on special teams this season for the Auburn football program. Although his number of snaps in backfield will likely affect his return numbers slightly, I believe the faithful Auburn fanbase has a lot to be excited about on Special teams this season, with Brian Battie leading the charge of that excitement.

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