AUBURN | Damari Alston has certainly paid his dues.

As a freshman, he was one of the backups to All-SEC running back Tank Bigsby. The last two seasons, Alston served as the primary backup to Jarquez Hunter.

But with Bigsby going into his third season with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Hunter recently selected by the L.A. Rams in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, it’s finally Alston’s time to step into the spotlight.

"Man, I’m looking forward to it. I’ve been working my tail off for this moment. I feel like God kept me here for a reason,” said Alston, who primarily worked with the first-team offense this spring. “It’s just time to make history. It’s time to get Auburn back to where it’s supposed to be.

“I feel like we’ve got the pieces and I’m going to hold up to the standard that I know for Auburn football and Auburn running backs. I’m just going to go out there and play my best football and have fun and be great, and we’ll see what the results are.”

In three seasons, Alston has totaled 681 yards and five touchdowns on 130 carries. He’s played in 34 games with two starts.

In today’s college football world of NIL and the transfer portal, a lot of players in Alston’s position might have sought an opportunity for more playing time at another school.

But the College Park, Ga., native has been steadfast in his commitment to remain at Auburn even through the coaching change from Bryan Harsin to Hugh Freeze at the end of 2022.

“It was really to just carry on that legacy from the great running backs we’ve had here,” said Alston. “It’s been up and down with me but I know that God wants me here. I’ve talked to him a lot throughout these past three years and I know that this last year is going to make a lot of sense as to why I stayed.”

As the Tigers approached the end of spring drills last month, Freeze was asked about his team’s leadership. The first two players he named as leaders on the offensive side of the ball were Alston and senior offensive guard Jeremiah Wright.

“DA, he's a very vocal guy, kind of bringing the offense up together and trying to get on each other and push each other, motivate each other,” said Wright. “Like when things are not going our way, to keep pushing each other, motivate each other. And that's what we're doing.

“We're building off of that, and I'm happy me and DA, our bond got kind of stronger, and we just keep going from there."

Auburn opens the season Aug. 29 at Baylor.