Tate: Nicks, bruises are badges

AUBURN - Ben Tate doesn't mind the weekly soreness he experiences on Sundays.

The nicks and bruises he receives the previous day are symbolic badges of honor indicating a job well done.

Now a senior, Tate is trying to impart that wisdom on true freshman tailback Onterio McCalebb.

"I just try to tell him, there's a lot of guys that are hurt. I'm beat up pretty bad, he's beat up," Tate said. "I just try to tell him it's that time of year, you've just got to suck it up and go. To be a good football player, you have to be able to play with injuries. I told him on the sidelines, 'You've got to suck it up and go.' That's part of being a running back. We get beat and banged up on and you've got to play through it."

As the team's workhorse, Tate often endures more than most. That's mostly because he is the team's workhorse - the go-to player on an Auburn offense that has established itself this year as one of the best in the SEC.

Auburn coach Gene Chizik said if the Tigers are going to be successful this season, Tate won't be able to feel especially healthy the next morning.

"He's beat up and tired on Sunday, the way he needs to be," Chizik said. "He's running the ball physically, like we envisioned it and doing a lot of good things himself."

Tate is coming off a career game during which he scored twice and gained 184 rushing yards. Yet Chizik said he wants to get Tate the ball more than last week.

The extra workload is fine by Tate, who currently leads the conference in rushing yards and rushing yards per game.

This season has been part breakout and part rebound for Tate, who briefly contemplated going to the NFL after last year. The 2008 season was as forgettable for Tate as it was for the entire Auburn program.

Through six games this season, Tate has already surpassed his 2008 totals in both rushing yardage and rushing touchdowns.

"I don't really think about last year. Last year was a bad year," Tate said. "I thought about it in the offseason to drive me, but now that we're past that I just think about one thing, and that's taking it one game at a time."

While Tate is taking it one game at a time, running backs coach Curtis Luper thought big picture when he made a bold prediction during spring practice.

Luper said to anyone who would listen that Tate would enjoy a career season this year. He projected a minimum of 1,000 yards and said he had no doubt Tate would live up to that benchmark.

Tate has not lacked for confidence since coming to Auburn. He set his own goals - 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns - but didn't make any comparably bold predictions.

When the season began, though, he knew many of the pieces were in place to live up to his own expectations.

"I knew with coach Malzahn's offenses that I would have a pretty good chance to put some numbers in," Tate said. "He told me that at the beginning of the year, it's just all about hard work and it's about staying humble. If I stay humble and I keep working hard, hopefully these things will keep happening for me."

Tate, as well as Chizik and Luper, credit his success offensive line for a significant portion of his success.

The linemen aren't shy about returning much of that success to the job Tate has done this season.

"He's a really hard worker and he really takes pride in running the ball hard," center Ryan Pugh said. "I think people see that each week when he runs the ball very physically. It's just amazing what sometimes a transition does, a clean slate."

That clean slate has come with a lot more punishment Tate must endure on Sunday mornings.

With the strong production from both he and the offense, though, Tate isn't complaining.