Auburn football has multiple capable running backs. Is it possible to keep them all happy?

AUBURN — Cadillac Williams couldn't help but crack a joke.

Following Auburn football's win against Western Kentucky last season — the third game of his tenure as the interim head coach — Williams was asked about his upcoming opponent: Coach Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide.

"I've got a lot of respect for the great Nick Saban, a lot of respect," Williams said in November. "He came and sat on my couch in 2001 ... when he was at LSU. My mom, my dad, we were very impressed by coach Saban. He did pass on me in the 2005 (NFL) Draft, and he took Ronnie Brown over me. That still hurts me a little bit, but I'm over it now."

Williams wore a sly grin after his tongue-in-cheek remark, showing his comment was as much of a joke as it was based in reality.

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That moment was a microcosm of Auburn's running back corps in the early 2000s. Williams was of course happy to see his teammate, Brown, get drafted No. 2 overall by the Saban-led Miami Dolphins. But Williams, who was selected three picks later, is a competitor; he wants to win and be the best at everything he does.

Both things can be true. And they need to be true again this fall, just with a different cast of characters.

Auburn's backfield won't feature Brown or Williams, but it will have Jarquez Hunter and Damari Alston, along with South Florida transfer Brian Battie and freshman Jeremiah Cobb, who was a four-star recruit coming out of Montgomery Catholic in the Class of 2023.

Each member of the quartet is talented, but there's only one ball. Luckily for Williams, he can preach from a place of experience.

"I'm not in their shoes, but I've been down that path that a lot of these guys are going through," Williams said Tuesday. "Being in a deep room and fighting for playing time. I love it, man. Every guy I recruit from Brian to Jarquez to Damari, I tell them, ‘In order to come play, man, you're going to have to be selfless.' You are looking at a guy who had the opportunity to play with Tre Smith, Brandon Jacobs (and) Ronnie Brown. To play in the backfield where we made each other better.

"Iron sharpens iron. We were selfless. When Ronnie go out there, Brandon or Tre, they do something good, I'm happy for them. I'm cheering for them, but also it lights a fire up under me. (The key is) each and every day having that mindset of competing with each other ... and also pulling for the guy at the same time."

Hunter, who rushed for 668 yards behind Tank Bigsby last season, is expected to be the lead back. After him is anyone's best guess. Alston has stepped up into a leadership role, Battie tallied just under 1,200 yards with the Bulls in 2022 and Cobb was a weapon on the ground and through the air for Montgomery Catholic as a senior.

"He talked about how big the running back room was (in the early 2000s), how deep it was and how they all benefited from each other," Alston said when asked about advice he's received from Williams. "It pushed them when they came to practice, and it kind of reminded me of our running back room now.

"Every day is a competition. Like, we're all competing, but we all love each other. They know when we're on that field we're going to have fun with each other, but when we're getting our turn we try to make the best of it because we're all trying to have playing time."

Williams helped lead the Tigers to a perfect 13-0 season as a senior in 2004. He knows the formula, and he's doing his best to impart that wisdom onto this year's roster.

"Let's be selfless, let's work our tails off. Let's play efficient on offense, man," Williams said. "... Let's lean on the Auburn family — the Auburn family at Jordan-Hare — and magic can happen.

"It's proven. The proof is in the pudding."

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football: How Cadillac Williams plans to manage his RBs