Auburn’s message this week at SEC Media Days was loud and clear: the Tigers want to be the most violent team on the field, and safety Champ Anthony is right at the center of that plan.
Anthony’s path to this point has been anything but smooth. He was a team captain in 2024 before breaking his leg against Arkansas and missing the rest of the season. Then in 2025, he opened the year as Auburn’s starting safety against Baylor, only to break his thumb and see his availability limited the rest of the way.
Even with that kind of run of bad luck, Auburn coach Alex Golesh still brought Anthony to Media Days this week.
“I would tell you what he does day to day represents everything you want Auburn football to be,” Golesh said. “He’s tough, smart and a leader.
He’s got a neat story. He’s had to overcome a ton.
He’d be the first one to tell you he probably shouldn’t be here right now because of everything he’s gone through. But he’s here, he’s healthy, he’s fighting and kind of brings a smile to my face because he’s everything you want in terms of a fighter that’s resilient.”
Anthony is expected to be the vocal presence in a young Auburn secondary that includes AnQuon Fegans, Eric Winters, Kaleb Harris and Sylvester Smith-Reed. And for a player known around the program as one of its hardest hitters, that role fits.
With one year of eligibility left, Anthony said he wants to pass that edge down to the younger guys before he’s done.
“Somebody got to do the hard hitting,” Anthony said. “My goal in the game is to make the first crack.
Like, who’s going to pop something first? Having a violent secondary is what makes receivers and running backs feel uncomfortable.
You got some guys in this secondary who really enjoys putting pain over you.”
That lines up with the way Golesh described Auburn’s broader identity during his main press conference.
“The first piece of this identity that we’ve hammered home is the ability to be physically and mentally tough,” Golesh said. “That’s what Auburn football was built on, physical and mental toughness.
The ability to be the most violent football team on the field every Saturday. Violent.
I think that’s something you can watch and see. It’s something that you can look and say, man, this is a physically and mentally tough football team.”
For Auburn, the vision and the voice match. Anthony and Golesh are saying the same thing, and that’s the tone the Tigers are trying to set heading into the fall.
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