Despite breakout, Fannin still 1 of 3 running backs

Mario Fannin caught his first touchdown around the 30-yard line.

He was wide open, but he still had to work for it, as he cut across the field, shook a few tackles, took a big block near the 10 before leaping into the corner of the end zone.

His second, a 35-yard rushing touchdown that saw Fannin break more than five tackles, was even more impressive and almost led to an improbable Auburn upset over No. 10 Georgia.

But Fannin wasn’t around for Auburn’s final two, failed scoring drives Saturday because junior Ben Tate is a better pass blocker, coach Tommy Tuberville said.

On Tuesday, Tuberville continued to endorse Tate and senior Brad Lester as more-than-capable options in the Tigers’ three-back platoon.

“(Fannin) made two very good plays, but I think those other guys could have done the same thing being in that situation,” Tuberville said. “There’s not a lot of difference in any of those guys.”

Lester surprisingly did not line up in the backfield Saturday, but Tuberville said “they’ll all play” Nov. 29 in the Iron Bowl.

“Mario had a good week last week. Ben’s had his good weeks. They’ll all be healthy going into this game,” Tuberville said. “We want to go in with players that understand the gameplan … This game, being the last regular season game, you’ll do some different things, formations, personnel settings.

“When you have this long, you don’t want to over-coach but you also want to do some things to get your best players on the field.”

Needless to say, Fannin was the best player on the field Saturday.

But Fannin’s attitude since the surprise stay on the sidelines hasn’t skipped a beat. His team-first mentality and respect for Tate as a pass-blocker won’t allow him to second-guess his coaches.

“They trusted Ben with what he was doing,” Fannin said. “He did a great job picking up some blitzes for us, in order to help us move the ball down the field. That helped us out a lot.”

Aside from his two big plays Saturday, Fannin wasn’t exactly potent (seven carries for 25 yards; three catches for minus-4 yards), but it was enough to make Fannin the first Auburn back to finish with more than 100 total yards (108) since Tate’s big day against Vanderbilt in early
October. Tate finished Saturday’s game with 14 carries for 37 yards.

“Mario is just amazing … He’s the total package,” quarterback Kodi Burns said. “Mario’s one of those guys that if you just get the balls in his hands, he’s going to take over the game.”

Tuberville and Auburn’s coaches don’t exactly see Fannin as the “total package.” Not yet, at least.

Fannin’s midseason switch back to tailback, the position he was recruited to play, has set him behind the curve when it comes to pass protection, Tuberville said. Fannin severely injured his shoulder in a spring scrimmage and was moved to wide receiver until Tony Franklin’s firing midway through the season.

Tuberville has repeatedly mentioned the midseason switch as a reason why Fannin’s playing time was sparse until Saturday.

But the move, at least from Fannin’s rosy perspective, has been a blessing masked behind extra time on the sidelines.

“Just to know what a receiver’s blocking scheme is as far as getting blocks downfield. That helped a lot as far as me running down the field,” Fannin said. “You have to know as a receiver where everybody is going to be at a certain time. So that kind of helped me out a lot, too.“

Additional work in this week’s and the following’s practice should help Fannin stay on the field come crunch-time in Tuscaloosa. Fannin said he has always worked hard in practice, even when his only action was coming on special teams, but he admitted Saturday’s big dose of work has upped his intensity level.

“Just come in and do what I can do when they give me the opportunity,” Fannin said. “So it’s really not hard to be patient. You’ve just got to sit back and be humble.”

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