The play that stood out most from Robby

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The play that stood out most from Robby Ashford's Auburn debut

Published: Sep. 06, 2022, 7:05 a.m.

4-5 minutes

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Auburn players talk about Robby Ashford's block during Tank Bigsby's 39-yard TD run vs Mercer

Robby Ashford turned some heads in Auburn’s season opener with his arm and his running prowess.

Making his debut for the Tigers after spending two years buried on the depth chart at Oregon, Ashford completed 4-of-7 passes for 100 yards and ran for 68 yards on six carries. He showcased his arm strength with a 56-yard bomb on a well-placed deep ball to Ja’Varrius Johnson in the third quarter. Ashford also flashed his mobility with a 49-yard run on the second snap of his career.

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Neither of those plays was the one head coach Bryan Harsin cued up on the screen in Auburn’s team meeting room Sunday, though. Instead, it was a clip of Tank Bigsby’s 39-yard run on the first play after Saturday’s 87-minute weather delay against Mercer.

Ashford handed the ball off to Bigsby out of the shotgun, and the running back took the carry off left guard before cutting back to the right side of the field at the 35-yard line. As Bigsby broke to the right, Ashford is seen sprinting into the frame from behind the play and racing downfield to lay a block on Mercer safety Shi’heem Watkins inside the 20-yard line, clearing the way for Bigsby to score.

“He came out of nowhere,” wide receiver Shedrick Jackson said. “He beat me to the point. He got down there and pancaked that dude.”

Jackson didn’t notice Ashford’s block in real time; he was focused on trying to escort Bigsby to the end zone himself after starting the play as a decoy, coming across the formation pre-snap to feign a jet sweep. It wasn’t until after the game that Jackson saw the replay on Twitter.

Of course, Jackson knows all about downfield blocking. His knack for getting in there and taking on would-be tacklers is what got him onto the field early as a true freshman in 2018 and as a sophomore in 2019, even when he wasn’t much of a factor in the passing game.

“I think I knew he had it in him,” said Jackson, who was also Ashford’s high school teammate at Hoover.

Ashford’s block sent Watkins flying to the ground and sliding inside the 10-yard line as Bigsby made his way to the end zone to give Auburn a 42-7 lead with 1:21 to go in the third quarter.

Harsin showed the team the play to drive home a point the day after Auburn’s season-opening win. He wanted to emphasize what it meant to be a “football player,” and not just a quarterback; he also pointed to running back Jarquez Hunter, who had a trio of rushing touchdowns but also earned the team’s special teams player of the game honors for the job he did on kickoff coverage.

Ashford’s downfield effort, coming out of an extended weather delay no less, certainly garnered some attention — and respect — from his teammates.

“That was incredible,” starting center Tate Johnson said. “Did you see how fast he came down the sideline on the screen? That was incredible. That just speaks volumes to the kind of player he is, the kind of teammate he is. He’s a quarterback; he didn’t have to do that. Golly, that was a great effort play.”

Johnson and starting left guard Brandon Council, both of whom make a living off blocking players on Saturdays, were impressed with Ashford’s downfield block against Mercer, with Council noting that it “definitely got (the offensive line) fired up” after the lengthy break in play due to the inclement weather in the area.

“I’ll tell you what, that was different,” Council said. “He just showed some real speed; he came flying behind Tank Bigsby, who was already running downfield. He threw the safety down on the ground, that was amazing. We were pretty impressed with that as an O-line.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.