Few rivalries in all of sports compare to the Iron Bowl.

It can divide families, sour friendships and captivate the attention of an entire state for three to four hours every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Many young children in Alabama grow up watching the game, dreaming of one day suiting up for the Tigers or Tide in their state’s biggest annual sporting event. For a small handful of children, that dream will come true, and Auburn will feature its fair share of those players on Saturday.

Malik Blocton, a freshmen defensive lineman from Pike Road, was one of those kids, growing up less than an hour from Auburn’s campus. When speaking to reporters on Monday, he claimed that he had watched every Iron Bowl since he was 5 years old, mentioning the Auburn wins in 2013 and 2019 as two of his best Iron Bowl memories.

“This is the biggest game of my life,” Blocton said. “At this level, every game is the biggest game of my life. I’m not going to treat this game anything extra than what I’ve been doing, not going to do anything outside of my body.”

His appreciation for the game goes deeper than just growing up locally, though, with his brother, Marcus Harris, playing three seasons at Auburn. With Harris playing at Auburn from 2021-2023, Blocton easily remembers the last Iron Bowl too, but for the wrong reasons.

“It was crazy for me last year, I was at the game, and I see my brother walk off the field with tears in his eyes,” Blocton said. “I just don’t want that to be me on Saturday. That’s not going to be me.”

Linebacker Demarcus Riddick is another one of Auburn’s talented in-state freshmen, starring at Chilton County High School before arriving on the plains.

While he says he didn’t watch the Iron Bowl much growing up, the game means something to him because of the near 50/50 split of Auburn and Alabama fans in his hometown of Clanton.

“I went back home yesterday, and I saw a lot of my friends and family, and they were just saying how Bama is going to win this week,” Riddick said Monday. “I was like, ‘Nah y’all, I’m telling you it’s something different down here in Auburn and we’re going to show you what it is.’ Going to play in this game is going to be amazing. A dream come true, to be honest.”

Riddick didn’t hold anything back when talking about the matchup either, bringing some unapologetic, public trash talk back to the rivalry that isn’t common from players in modern college football when speaking to reporters.

“Bama is a big rival team. Every rival team I’ve never lost to and I will not lose to Bama while I’m here,” Riddick said.

He also went after both Jalen Milroe and Ryan Williams.

“He is a good quarterback, he’s fast. But he’s not faster than me. He will not get out of that box this week,” Riddick said of Milroe.

“Ryan Williams is Ryan Williams,” Riddick continued about Alabama’s star freshman. “Yeah, he’s electric and this and that. But in my eyes, he ain’t really nobody to me. Ryan Williams is himself, he ain’t no big-time player to me.”

Unlike Riddick and Blocton, Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne didn’t grow up in Alabama around the Iron Bowl. A native of Naperville, Illinois, he didn’t really understand the magnitude of the game until he arrived in Auburn prior to the 2023 season.

Having played in one of the wildest Iron Bowls in recent history, though, his understanding of the game’s meaning has grown, and he acknowledged what the game means to him.

“I learned in this state that, you know, growing up, that’s how you choose your friends. You ask, ‘Are you Alabama or are you Auburn?’“ Thorne said. ”Obviously, it’s played on Rivalry Weekend for a reason and means a lot to the people here and to myself and my teammates as well.”

Luke Deal is another Auburn player who despite not being from the state, has gained an understanding of the weight the game carries. Having played in more Iron Bowls than any other current Auburn player, he has plenty of memories of the game, including the last time Auburn beat Alabama in 2019.

Despite that, one thing Deal hasn’t accomplished is beating the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa.

“That’s on my bucket list, and I’ve got one more time left,” Deal said. “That’s the icing on the cake for my career I think and I really just want it for this team. Some of the guys already understand –- Eugene [Asante] is over there talking –- a lot of guys understand how big this rivalry is.”

Saturday’s matchup between Alabama and Auburn is scheduled to kick off at 2:30 p.m. in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m