Auburn football: The 10 most important players from the past 10 seasons

The past 10 seasons featured a little bit of everything for the Auburn Tigers.

There was a trip to the BCS championship game at the end of the 2013 season, a 10-win season in 2017, 6 other winnings seasons, 2 losing seasons and 3 different head coaches (not counting Kevin Steele’s 1 game as acting head coach in 2020).

But one constant through the years was that Auburn had a whole bunch of really good players. Nine Tigers were named first-team All-America by the AP, including 2 consensus All-Americans.

Along the way there were 3 Iron Bowl wins, 7 Iron Bowl losses and probably the most memorable play in the history of the series with Alabama.

Here are Auburn’s Top 10 most important players from the past 10 seasons (2012-21):

10. K Daniel Carlson (2014-17)

Carlson was one of the most accomplished and decorated players in school history. He was a 2-time SEC Special Teams Player of the Year and finished his career as the No. 1 scorer in SEC history and topped the league with 92 field goals and 198 consecutive PATs made.

He made 80.7% of his field-goal attempts, 8th-best in SEC history, giving the Tigers an important edge in close games.

9. KR/CB Chris Davis (2010-13)

Davis has a permanent place in Auburn lore for the “Kick-6″, his 109-yard (100 officially) return of a missed field goal for a winning touchdown as time expired in the 2013 Iron Bowl.

But his career, which started before this 10-year stretch began, featured much more than that legendary play. He was one of the top return specialists in the country and a good cornerback.

8. OL Braden Smith (2014-17)

Smith was an AP first-team All-American in 2017 as he helped lead the way for Kerryon Johnson’s standout season. He was a 3-time All-SEC player and made 41 straight starts.

7. WR Ryan Davis (2015-18)

Davis didn’t catch any passes as a freshman. Then he went on an historic run.

He set a school single-season record with 84 receptions during his junior season and finished his career as Auburn’s all-time receptions leader with 178.

6. QB Nick Marshall (2013-14)

Marshall had one of the most productive 2-year tenures in school history. In addition to helping lead the Tigers to the BCS title game in his first season, he finished his career with 4,508 passing yards, 34 touchdown passes, 1,866 rushing yards and 23 rushing touchdowns.

5. OL Reese Dismukes (2012-14)

Dismukes was a fixture on the line, starting 50 games in 4 seasons. He was first team All-SEC his last 2 seasons and won the Rimington Award as the country’s best center as a senior when he also was a consensus All-American.

4. DL Marlon Davidson (2016-19)

Davidson played in 50 games over 4 seasons and was named first-team All-SEC as a senior, when he had 48 tackles, 11.5 for loss and 6.5 sacks. He helped lead one of the SEC’s best defenses during a tenure that featured a 35-18 won-lost record.

3. RB Kerryon Johnson (2015-17)

Johnson saw limited action as a freshman, then became a contributor as a sophomore and broke out as the SEC Offensive Player of the Year as a junior. That’s when he rushed for 1,391 yards and 18 touchdowns for the SEC West champions.

2. RB Tre Mason (2011-13)

Mason’s first season fell outside of the 10-year window, but he had one of the most productive individual seasons in school history in 2013. He rushed for 1,816 yards and 23 touchdowns in finishing 6th in the vote for the Heisman Trophy.

He set SEC Championship Game records with 304 rushing yards, 4 touchdowns and 46 rushes. He had 195 yards in the title-game loss to Florida State.

1. DL Derrick Brown (2016-19)

Brown’s statistics don’t fully demonstrate how good he was or how important he was to his team’s success. But the numbers certainly aren’t bad – 170 career tackles, 33.5 tackles for loss, 13 sacks. He also had a remarkable 38 quarterback pressures.

It was his ability to be disruptive even as opponents devoted multiple blockers to him that helped him become a consensus All-American and the SEC Defensive Player of the Year in 2019.

Les East

Les East is a New Orleans-based football writer who covers LSU for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow him on Twitter @Les_East.