This past Saturday, the freshman Cartavious “Tank” Bigsby posted his third consecutive 100+ yard rushing performance for a team high 129 yards on 24 carries in Auburn’s 35-28 victory over Ole Miss. The SEC freshman of the week leads the conference in all-purpose yardage (163.2/gm) and ranks third nationally.
Accounting for three (team high) of Auburn’s rushing touchdowns, Tank runs through opposing defenses like his nickname suggests. Getting a few lessons from veteran back Shaun Shivers, many fans remember his hit against Xavier McKinney in the 2019 Iron Bowl, Bigsby is handling the workload well after having to fill in through the eyes of Gus Malzahn.
“Obviously with the addition of getting (Shaun) Shivers back, I thought it was a really good 1-2 punch. Both of them are running extremely hard. Both of them have breakaway speed. Both can break tackles.”
After his performances over the past few weeks from, it’s hard not open the books and see where Bigsby ranks. He is first running back with more than 100 yards in his past three games since Kerryon Johnson (2017) and the first Auburn freshman running back with three games of 100+ yards since JaTarvious Whitlow (2018). Even more impressive is how all three showings have been against SEC opponents, joining Bo Jackson (1982) and Michael Dyer (2010) in the category.
By game, Bigsby has totaled:
(Rush/Rec-yards, TD) Rushing Receiving
Kentucky (#23) 6-15 0-0
@ Georgia (#4)* 8-31 7-68
Arkansas* 20-146 4-16
@ South Carolina* 16-111, 1 0-0
@ Ole Miss 24-129, 2 0-0
*Shivers did not play
Watch Tank this Saturday as he goes for a fourth consecutive 100+ yard rushing performance as the Tigers play host to LSU at 2:30CT on CBS.
