Indiana Gets Commitment From Former Auburn Running Back Shaun Shivers

Indiana's depleted running backs room got some help on Saturday when former Auburn back Shaun Shivers committed to the Hoosiers. He will have one year of eligibility in Bloomington.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana started to replenish its running backs room on Saturday when former Auburn running back Shaun Shivers announced his commitment to the Hoosiers after an official visit last week

Shivers, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native, spent four years Auburn and will have one year of eligibility remaining at Indiana. He entered the transfer portal at the end of the regular season. Shivers graduated from Auburn on Friday. 

Shivers was a popular figure at Auburn and a leader in the locker room. He had several big plays for the Tigers in his career, and is best known for knocking the helmet off of an Alabama player on his way to the end zone in 2019.

He's small — just 5-foot-7 and 189 pounds — but he has blazing speed and is a solid pass catcher out of the backfield. He played in 43 games for the Tigers from 2018 to 2021. He was a four-star recruit coming out of high school, and was the 10th-ranked all-purpose back in his class, per the 247Sports Composite.

Shivers rushed for 1,020 yards and eight touchdowns during his four seasons at Auburn, and he added another 211 yards and one touchdown on 38 receptions. He was used as part of a three-back rotation most of his career. 

He was supposed to have a bigger role during his senior season, and scored two touchdowns in Auburn's season-opening win over Akron. But he then had to miss two games with an injury, and freshman Jarquez Hunter played well in his absence, limited his touches going forward.

Indiana's running backs room emptied quickly during the season. When USC transfer Stephen Carr won the job in training camp, Sampson James entered the transfer portal and eventually committed to Purdue. Tim Baldwin Jr. also transferred out just two weeks after he had a huge lost fumble in the loss to Purdue.

Carr gained 588 yards in Indiana's first eight games but was injured an ankle early in the game against Michigan. The Hoosiers made do with walk-on Davion Ervin-Poindexter, Chris Childers and Charlie Spegal the rest of the way. Indiana finished 2-10 on the season, losing its last eight games.

Indiana had two freshman running backs last year, David Holloman and Trenten Howland, and they saw limited action to preserve their redshirts. 

Indiana has a four-star running back in this 2022 class on the way, GiBran Payne of LaSalle High School in Cincinnati. He is expected to have an immediate impact as well.