AUBURN | In 130 years of Auburn football, no player has played as many games as John Samuel Shenker.

The tight end from Albany, Ga., will enter Saturday’s Iron Bowl with 61 career games played over six seasons.

“It was really special to have it here, with all the history that's gone on at this University, to be able to have that title is really special,” said Shenker.

Shenker will end his career with several other records. He set a single-season mark for tight ends in 2021 with 33 receptions for 413 yards.

He currently holds the Auburn career record for tight end receptions with 68 and is just 51 yards shy of the career record for yards with 779. Cooper Wallace had 829 receiving yards form 2002-05.

"Well, that'd be nice,” said Shenker of setting another record. “That would mean we're throwing the ball around a little bit. But whatever it takes Saturday. Every game has a life of its own. If that's what it takes to win, then that's what it'll be. But I'm not super-focused on that one specific thing.”

Auburn has focused on running the ball in its last three games under interim coach Cadillac Williams. The Tigers have combined for 778 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns.

Shenker, however, hasn’t had a reception since the loss to Arkansas Oct. 29, and he’s just fine with that.

“When Coach Cadillac took over, that was the one thing we said — we were gonna run the football,” he said. “Any time you can run the football well, you're gonna be successful, most of the time. And yeah, I think we have the best two backs in the country back there … those guys are able to do a lot of things with it at any given moment.

“It's really a testament to Coach Cadillac for sticking with it, through ups and downs of it. But we do believe that is a big piece of this offense. The last two games, I think they've had 100 yards rushing each. That's really awesome to see and definitely something we'll continue to do.”

And Shenker is ready to go to battle with Williams and his teammates for what could be his final time in an Auburn uniform.

“This game always is a special game, special environment. High-intensity. Lot of passion in this game, surrounding it, because what this game means to this state,” said Shenker.

“I think, from when Coach Cadillac took over, that was the one thing — we were gonna play for Auburn. I think we've done that. I think you can see that with the passion with him and his team on the sideline during the games. And I think that'll continue, as long as Coach Cadillac is here."

Kickoff at Bryant-Denny Stadium is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT on CBS.