re: "I learned a lot of Auburn characteristics and being an Auburn man"

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"I learned a lot of Auburn characteristics and being an Auburn man"
It is too high of a bar that has been set. If it was shared here many would call it unattainable. They would be right except for the exceptional men that come through Auburn.

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Former AU running back says Auburn is a racist school

Auburn transfer finds home at SIU By Zack Creglow, Daily Egyptian April 15, 2004(U-WIRE) CARBONDALE, Ill. --

Brandon Jacobs walkshastily across the Auburn campus, quietly counting the days until he reunites with his friends at Southern Illinois. A season at Auburn left him questioning his ability,his decision to attend there and himself. When hisbest friend at Auburn, Tony McClain, chose to transfer to SIU last fall, Jacobs was left alone. "I got a few friends at Auburn, but I can count them up on one hand," Jacobs said in his baritone Cajun muffle. ADVERTISEMENT Two weeks ago, he decided to join McClain as a Saluki.As he finishes the semester at Auburn, he continues to envision how his career might have gone -- how it should have gone. He thinks of Auburn vs. Alabama,86,000 screaming fans watching him carry the football. But that isn't what he remembers. His memory evokes Auburn fans chanting, "You Suck!"and being told by Auburn coaches that in the pre season he would start -- only not to receive a carry in the final four games -- and the condescending manner he feels blacks are treated in Auburn, Ala. "At Auburn, there isn't that many great people,"Jacobs said. "You are everything to these people if you are an athlete. Normal black people don't get treated like we do. If you aren't an athlete, they don't want anything to do with you, and that isn't right."

He had entered Auburn as the gem of the recruiting class, a 6-foot-4, 260-pound running back widely considered the top junior college prospect in the nation only to finish the season as a whisper. He was relegated to the bench in a sport he had dominated since he was 4 years old. "It killed me," Jacobs said. "It had me wanting to quit. It killed my insides. I never even had left the field before Auburn. I was never the one on the bench.I still haven't adjusted to that. It still kills me." He never felt farther from home.

In sun-baked Napoleonville, La., home of Jacobs andhis legend, his mother Janice answers questions regarding him daily. People ask about him at the post office and the super market. It doesn't matter where. Everybody in the town of 750 people is interested in how her son is doing. Everybody cares. One of his high school teachers even started a professionally designed website for him, www.brandonjacobs.net. Football is tradition in the Southern town. When Jacobs played, people flooded Napoleonville from allover with the town's two stoplights directing thei nflux of traffic. More than 8,000 fans piled into the lone grandstand and scattered around the field just to watch him run. "Oh Lord, when he played, the whole town just went crazy," Janice said. "He brought people out to football games who never went to a game before. People came from everywhere."

After rushing for 3,022 yards and 38 touchdowns, he chose to resume his career at Auburn. He had the opportunity to attend the home state school, LSU, and had offers from Miami, Texas and Nebraska. After failing to meet academic standards, Auburn placed him at Coffeyville (Kansas) Community College.Quietly tucked away in the vast grassy plains of rural Kansas and the nearest city, Tulsa, more than an hour away, Jacobs and his Red Raven teammates developed a strong bond. "That is it, just hang out with guys," Jacobs said."But we had fun playing football, working out and lifting weights. We had fun doing those kinds of things. I remember going out and having water balloon fights. We would just joke around, making fun of each other. They don't do that at Auburn. "When somebody had a problem at Coffeyville, they didn't run to the coaches; they ran to their teammates."

The chemistry spilled onto the field. The Red Raven offense was unstoppable as he and Muhammad Abdulqaadir formed the most potent backfield in the nation during his freshman season. "When he and Muhammad played together, Muhammad always wanted Brandon to go in there and mash it up a bit before he went in," said SIU defensive line coach Bryce Saia, who joined the Saluki staff this winter after six seasons at Coffeyville. "When Muhammad blew out his knee, you saw tears come out of Brandon's eyes." After Abdulqaadir left for SIU, Jacobs no longer had to share carries. The ball was his. Saluki head coach Jerry Kill first saw Jacobs when he made a visit to Coffeyville to recruit future SIU players Frank Johnson, Linton Brown and Jamarquis Jordan. In the third quarter of the Dalton Defenders Bowl,which pitted the Red Ravens against Rochester (Minn.),Jacobs broke lose on a counter. He outran the entire secondary and walked into the end zone for an 85-yardtouchdown. He finished the game with 259 yards on 24carries. "Little did [Kill] know, No. 27 would be playing for him someday," Saia said.

In the last weekend in March, Jacobs took a visit to Carbondale, Ill., and met with Kill in his office. He heard truth in what Kill said to him. "He is a straight-up guy," Jacobs said of Kill. "I had a lot of one-on-one conversations at Auburn that were untruthful. Even when the guys from Coffeyville would get into trouble here, he didn't throw them out like a dishrag." During the visit, he saw familiar faces, people he used to consider family. He saw three former Red Raven coaches, his former backfield mate, Abdulqaadir, and his best friend, McClain. When it came time for him to leave, he sat at the hotel crying. In that weekend at Carbondale, the gaping void in his life was bandaged. Jacobs felt like he regained a part of who he was, and he signed a financial aid agreement three days later to play atSIU. "I couldn't tell you how it really felt to be backwith those guys," Jacobs said. "I couldn't describethat. I felt good about myself. It brought some prideback that told me I could be the person I was a longtime ago." Kill has already told him he wants him down to 250 pounds and expects him in Carbondale in early June to join the team. Jacobs already has thought out his first carry. "I love hitting someone right up in his chest," Jacobs said. "I'd like to start with an 80- or 90-yard run,maybe run over a couple of linebackers and outrun the secondary." He will still have to fight for more carries, just like at Auburn. Along with him, the SIU backfield is crowded with holdover Antoine Jackson, Minnesota transfer Terry Jackson II and former Coffeyville teammate Arkee Whitlock. But he doesn't care. His family is here. He hopes it will become his home.