AUBURN, Ala. — Ted Roof is a Georgia man to the core, the Auburn defensive coordinator having spent his formative years in Augusta before moving to Lawrenceville, where he attended middle and high school.
Naturally, he followed Georgia Bulldogs football growing up, the burgeoning linebacker a big fan of Erk Russell’s defenses under Vince Dooley.
“Then the recruiting process started and obviously things changed,” said Roof, who would have an All-ACC career at Georgia Tech from 1983-85.
Nevertheless, Roof still holds high admiration for the Bulldogs, against whom he went 2-2 as a player and later 3-1 as a defensive coordinator for the Yellow Jackets.
“It’s fun,” he said, days before Auburn is set to travel to Athens. “After playing against them as a player and coaching against them as a coach, I have great respect for them as a program and what they’ve been able to accomplish. It makes it fun. It’s a fun game.”
He’s not alone in that thought. Twenty players on Auburn’s roster (approximately one-fifth) are from Georgia. That group includes four starters — wide receiver Darvin Adams (Kennesaw), running back Mario Fannin (Hampton), right guard Byron Isom (Jonesboro) and cornerback Neiko Thorpe (Tucker) — and a key contributor in freshman tight end Philip Lutzenkirchen (Marietta).
Two players hail from Columbus — cornerback D’Antoine Hood and walk-on linebacker Patrick Butler.
Auburn’s Peach State players had a variety of reasons for crossing the border.
Fannin, a multi-purpose player who was a quarterback in high school, was recruited by the Bulldogs as a safety. But he wanted to stay on offense and instead chose Auburn, where he’s been shuttled around to various positions, finally settling in as an H-back this year.
“Every time I play Georgia, I kind of play with a chip on my shoulder,” he said. “A lot of my friends play for them. It’s good to go play against them.”
Other players were Georgia transplants who simply wanted to try something different.
Adams, who leads Auburn in receptions (38), receiving yards (627) and touchdowns (9), moved from Canton, Miss., to Kennesaw after his dad got a job there. He wasn’t enticed by the Bulldogs’ lure, having grown up a Jackson State fan.
“I really didn’t like Georgia,” Adams said. “I think every letter I got from Georgia, I don’t think I even read it. I guess it was because being in Georgia, everybody was a Georgia fan. I like being an underdog. Everybody’s for Georgia; I like to go up against them. Everybody’s for Tennessee; I like to go up against them. I’m just that type of person.”
Lutzenkirchen, one of the jewels of Auburn’s 2009 recruiting class, felt pressure to stay in state. Although he and his family moved to Georgia from the Chicago area when he was young, Lutzenkirchen quickly embraced the south’s passion for football.
His sister goes to Georgia. His neighbors are Bulldogs fans. And his high school, Lassiter High in Marietta, is one of Georgia’s top feeder schools. Lutzenkirchen said about 120 kids from his senior class went there.
“Everyone wanted me to go to Georgia back home,” he said.
He wanted a different experience, though, narrowing his choices to Auburn and Clemson before committing to Auburn early in the recruiting process, in May of his junior year.
“(Georgia’s coaches) came and I kind of told them from the beginning that I didn’t have much interest,” he said. “I kind of wanted to get away. Nothing bad about the university, just wanted to get away from the state of Georgia and try out something new.”
Regardless of their reasons for leaving the state, each player still has plenty of friends and family living in Georgia, making this week’s game all the more special.
“Hopefully that’ll be a big boost there,” Adams said.
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