AU FOOTBALL: Fannin happy with role, whatever it may be

Mario Fannin picked Auburn over in-state Georgia for a variety of reasons, but one of them, in retrospect, has a bit of an ironic twist.

“They wanted me to play safety,” Fannin said. “I just didn’t want to do that.”

Little did he know that he’d end up playing four or so positions in his first three years with the Tigers. Safety hasn’t been one of them, but Fannin’s well-documented bouncing around the Auburn offense has made his time with the Tigers an intriguing one to follow.

His latest stop has been at tailback, picking up carries that were usually reserved for Onterio McCalebb, who has missed the last two games with a nagging injury.

With Ben Tate set to move on to the NFL after the season, tailback is a position that could be Fannin’s to lose heading into 2010 — even with McCalebb, redshirt freshman Dontae Aycock, freshly committed five-star Michael Dyer and all the other high-profile backs
Auburn could sign waiting in the wings.

“Mario is working himself into a position where he’s able to run the ball from that spot some — as well as doing the pass-receiving jobs that we have for him on screen passes and wheels,” coach Gene Chizik said. “The last two weeks, Mario has been productive.
He’s fit well into our offense.”

Fannin actually started at tailback Saturday against Furman, taking a handoff out of the I-formation on first down for 9 yards and following with a 4-yard gain on an option pitch. Before his day was cut off at the end of the first half like all the other Auburn starters,
Fannin broke off a 30-yard run to finish with 60 yards on six carries.

He’s carried the ball just 31 times the entire season, but 18 have come in the last three games while Eric Smith has received more action at the H-Back — Fannin’s listed position for this season, at least.

“He definitely could be a guy who could fill in next year,” Tate said. “I know he could do that. He’s a good athlete. He’s a good running back. He’s a good receiver. He can do it all.”

Fannin’s ability to do it all has maybe worked against him, if you look at it from a personal statistics perspective.

Set to compete with Tate and Brad Lester for carries in 2008, Fannin was abruptly moved to wide receiver. When offensive coordinator Tony Franklin was fired at the midway point of the season, Fannin was moved back to tailback, where he thrived somewhat as Auburn’s season floundered.

His breakout performance at the position came against Georgia, when he caught and ran for a 48-yard touchdown in the first quarter and broke a number of tackles on a 35-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

“It’s definitely second nature,” Fannin said. “Just getting up and down the field, it’s just running downhill really.”

Before spring practice, Fannin was considered in the mix with Tate for the starting tailback job, but was quickly shifted to H-Back — a position Gus Malzahn considers one of the most valuable in his offense and one he reserves for his most versatile player.

The blocking that the position requires has largely been thrust on Smith’s shoulders, but Fannin has certainly carried the load when it comes to catching passes. He’s second on the team with 29 receptions and has been humorously dubbed Auburn’s “third receiver” by wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor.

“He can be that wide receiver. He can be that tailback. You can put him in the game and they don’t know which one he is,” Chizik said. “He can be the speed-sweep guy. He can be a screen guy. He can be a vertical, down-the-seam guy. I think he brings a lot of things to the table as an offensive guy, and you don’t necessarily know which role he’s going to play.

“That’s a good thing.”

Fannin sees it the same way, even though he envisioned his role with Auburn to be at tailback.

“Being able to show that versatility, I’ve been told helps out in the long run,” Fannin said. “Being able to play both of them is great for me.”

Whatever happens, the always-smiling Fannin will be happy, regardless.

“I like the H-back position and I like the fullback position,” he said. “It’s really wherever they want to play me.”

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