Though Cody Sigler has possessed-and earned-much of the attention surrounding the Auburn Tigers' defense over the past couple of days, Xavier Atkins' prowess is making sure that no one forgets about the Tiger linebacker ahead of the 2026 season.
Recently, the Dick Butkus Award revealed its 51-player preseason watchlist, and Atkins, to little surprise, made the list. The Butkus Award is given annually to college football's best linebacker, and though Jacob Rodriguez of Texas Tech earned the honors last year, Atkins' name was still heavily involved in the conversation.
This is quite impressive on the part of Atkins, who, prior to his 2025 season at Auburn, had only accounted for three total tackles in his career. Transferring from LSU to Auburn, where he went from a deep rotation spot to a mainline starter, was clearly a great decision for Atkins, who quickly found his spot in an already loaded Tiger defense.
Atkins managed to amass 84 total tackles, 60 solo tackles, nine sacks, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, and an interception across his 2025 campaign, top-notch stats for any linebacker, much less one in his first year as a starter. Additionally, Atkins' 17 tackles for...
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