Andrew McCain: an Auburn man.
McCain played tight end and offensive lineman for Auburn from 2005-2009, but the love for Auburn has not faded.
At 5 a.m. every morning, Andrew McCain awakes to the sound of his alarm and gets ready to hit the gym before going to work. His daily routine is centered around self-discipline, something he learned while playing college football at Auburn University.
Originally from Hoover, Alabama, McCain developed a love for the game of football at a young age. As far back as he can remember, McCain played football on the playground at school and in the neighborhood with his buddies when he was a kid.
He began playing organized football in the fourth grade, where he realized he liked the team aspect of the game.
“I quickly realized how much fun it was to not only run around and hit folks,” McCain said. “But also be able to be part of a team. In football, most everyone has to be competent and on the same page, or else nothing really goes and so I think I really liked that.”
McCain played high school football at Briarwood Christian School, which was located 20 minutes away from his home in Hoover. He played tight end for Briarwood, which is what he was recruited as out of high school.
Schools like Duke, Florida, Georgia Tech and Louisville all offered McCain an opportunity to play college ball, according to 247Sports. Ultimately, it was the offer from head coach Tommy Tuberville at Auburn that McCain selected.
“I fell in love with the campus at a young age,” McCain said. “I love the environment. I know it’s a little bit overplayed when you hear people talk about the Auburn family, but it really is a thing.”
McCain arrived on the Plains for his freshman season in 2005, where he appeared in five games for the Tigers. Following his freshman stint, he made the transition from tight end to offensive line and redshirted for his second year.
After spending a year on a redshirt, he returned to the field as an offensive lineman in 2007, where he appeared in 10 games. Over the next two seasons, McCain appeared in every game for the Tigers, including an overtime win against Northwestern in the 2009 Outback Bowl.
Naturally, Jordan-Hare Stadium became his favorite place in Auburn. However, it wasn’t Pat Dye Field that he enjoyed the most about the stadium.
For McCain, it was the steps between the home locker room and the goal post near the south end zone. Those steps represented a goal for McCain, a goal that he accomplished and says he’ll never forget.
“I remember the first time that I walked those steps in an Auburn uniform,” McCain said. “The noise of the crowd and everything else. It was one of those moments that just sticks with you forever like ‘Hey, I did it.”
McCain spent four of his five years under Tuberville, who had been Auburn’s head coach since 1999. However, after a 5-7 in 2008, Tuberville resigned from his position and was replaced by former Iowa State head coach Gene Chizik.
Following the coaching change, McCain considered ending his college football career.
“I thought hard about just being done with it,” McCain said. “I mean, I had already graduated.”
After a long talk with athletic director Jay Jacobs, Chizik and new offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, McCain decided to stay in the program for his final year of eligibility.
“I appreciated what they were trying to do,” McCain said. “It was important to see this thing through. Not only for myself, but for my teammates and for Auburn.”
It was in that final 2009 season that McCain’s favorite football memory occurred, during a road game against Tennessee.
“We had just boat-raced the hell out of these guys,” McCain said. “We were about to score again to go up by two touchdowns and they called a timeout. For some reason, I just happened to look at their sideline before I jogged off the field.”
On the Tennessee sideline was first-year head coach Lane Kiffin, who was looking at his defensive coordinator and father Monte Kiffin. McCain describes reading Lane Kiffin’s lips as he shouted an expletive at his father, whose defense had been perplexed by the Auburn offense.
“That moment always sticks out to me,” McCain said. “We’d been working on this hot-phase offense and that was the moment it felt like it clicked. We were doing to somebody on a national stage what we had been working to do.”
McCain, now 34, stays active on Twitter and Instagram as a constant supporter of Auburn Athletics. He recently took to Instagram to share his thoughts on the late head coach Pat Dye, who McCain says is the reason he fell in love with Auburn football.
“As a kid, that’s what I knew about Auburn football,” McCain said. “This is Pat Dye’s team. It was hard nose defense, running the football, discipline, doing things the right way and treating people with respect.”
The character that Dye’s teams embodied is what drew McCain to be fond of Auburn. McCain believes that Dye’s impact on the program is still present today.
“He set a tone and a precedent and benchmark for what Auburn football is,” McCain said. “Not just in the wins and losses columns, but also just the way that Auburn plays and the type of character that’s expected of its football players.”
Since graduating, McCain has moved back to the Birmingham area for work. He currently works for his family’s company, McCain Engineering, where his role is in sales and project management.
Nowadays, McCain spends his free time with his wife Claire, who he met at Auburn, and his 4-year-old yellow lab named Chance. The couple and their playful pup will often take trips to the park, with a cooler filled with snacks and cold beer. There, they watch Chance run around and swim in the creek, while the two enjoy family time with each other.
Yet, McCain still has that special tie to Auburn as a member of the Auburn family.
“It’s just as special now as it was when I was a kid,” McCain said. “It’s something that’s unique to Auburn. I owe Auburn a whole lot more than Auburn will ever owe me.”