SZVETITZ COLUMN: Auburn High has it - whatever that is

There’s one thing that every great football team has.

One thing that separates average from extraordinary.

One thing that the players draw from during the egg-frying heat of two-a-days to the Thursday walk-throughs to the Friday night lights to the hard-to-get-out-of-bed, day-after Saturdays.

There’s that one aspect that only few teams have, which serves as a catalyst for greatness.

The problem is, no one knows exactly what that “thing” is.

Not even Auburn High head football coach Tim Carter, whose No. 4 Tigers are 12-0 heading into tonight’s third round playoff game against No. 1 Prattville.

“Honestly, It’s hard to put my finger on it,” AHS’ third-year coach said of his team’s run. “I don’t know if I have the exact answer. We pressed the buttons and the kids responded.”

Responded to the tune of a perfect 10-0 regular season. Responded in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs after falling behind 14-0 to Sidney Lanier only to come back and win, 35-22. Responded last week in the second round, dismantling Wetumpka, 49-21.

But if it were just about pressing buttons, any team could go undefeated. There has to be more. There has to be something deeper.

What about leadership? Maybe that’s it.

Coming into this season, Carter was worried about that specific aspect. After losing a strong senior class last year, the Tigers had a lot of players who had some game experience, but no real “put it on my shoulders” attitude to draw from.

“Most of these kids played, but weren’t in a leading role,” Carter said. “We basically lost all our leadership from last year’s team.”

But not for long.

“Our coaches did a great job of molding character and talking about leadership,” Auburn High’s coach continued. “That’s one thing we harped on because we were concerned about it. And it helped. We developed some leadership and closeness in the group.”

Let’s talk for a minute about what Auburn lost in last year’s team. Out of 22 potential players on offense and defense, the Tigers had 10 that are either playing college football right now (across all divisions) or had signed a college scholarship.

That’s a lot. And it’s certainly a lot to lose.

No wonder Carter and the Tigers’ coaching staff had some concerns heading into the 2008 season.

But, again, that didn’t last long.

“This season has exceeded even my expectations,” Carter said, “just because of all the kids we lost a year ago and all the questions we had to answer ...

“To be honest, I’m surprised.”

But even Carter admitted he shouldn’t be. Just looking at his team now, from where they started, he knew this was a special group. A tight-knit group. A band of brothers, if you will.

“Vince Lombardi said, ’To have a successful team, you need to have discipline, fundamentals and a love for one another,’” Carter said.

“This team definitely has that. And it’s not just the players, but the coaches. We all have that love for each other, and that is what makes it so special.”

And it’s not just coach-speak. It’s real.

Togetherness and camaraderie are essential to success.

“It’s important in the game of football because it’s such a demanding game,” Carter said. “If you take the preseason weeks — and the 13 weeks of the season — we’ve been together 16 weeks. It’s grinding. There’s no week off. We’ve been competing every week. That’s tough.

“And you can’t continue to win and get better if you don’t like each other. The more you like each other, the better it is and the more those kids can approach it with a positive attitude.”

And it’s the same way Auburn High’s approaching today’s game against Goliath, er, Prattville.

As a team.

“(Prattville) being 39-0 in the state of Alabama and back-to-back defending state champions, that says it all,” Carter said. “We know what we’ve got to do.

“I haven’t seen any difference in our team this week. They’ve stuck together. There’s just a level of consistency. I didn’t see them feeling like they needed to press. It’s been even-keeled. I think that’s a good sign.

“They don’t think they’re up against an invincible giant.”

Confidence. Success. Leadership. Togetherness. It all adds up. Maybe it’s not just one thing. And it seems like Auburn’s got that figured out.

MIKE SZVETITZ is sports editor of the Opelika-Auburn News. He may be reached at or 737-2513.