Elijah McAllister stood in an Auburn practice uniform in a black and gold endzone. It was a field he knew well — the turf football practice field at Vanderbilt right next to FirstBank Stadium where he played for four years.

The jack linebacker transferred from Vanderbilt to Auburn after the 2022 season as a graduate. He already faced his former team once this season when Auburn beat Vanderbilt in Nashville 31-15 on Nov. 4.

This week, ahead of his final collegiate game, McAllister is back in Nashville and back at Vanderbilt one more time. On this trip, McAllister will be playing across town at Nissan Stadium for the Music City Bowl. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday.

“Weird, definitely funny,” McAllister said Wednesday. “I was like ‘Man, I transferred. I’m going to be in Auburn for my life, right?’ And I’m back in Nashville twice in one year. It’s just unique for me to be here, but it’s fun because I’m here with the right group of people and just enjoying that.”

Before playing Vanderbilt this season, McAllister said he was looking forward to getting a, so to speak, home crowd at Vanderbilt. He talked about how the opposing team’s fans always took over his former home stadium. He expected a large Auburn crowd for his return to Nashville.

He was right, the FirstBank Stadium was nearly completely covered in orange-clad Auburn fans. They chanted “Auburn” and “Tigers” back and forth across the sides of the stadium.

He knows the Auburn fans are going to show up again this weekend.

But on this trip, McAllister may practice at Vanderbilt, but a game at Nissan Stadium provides something he hasn’t done in this city yet.

“I have never played in the Titans’ stadium, but I’ve been there for a couple games, just having some teammates play there before,” McAllister said before traveling to Nashville for the Music City Bowl. “I’m just excited to play a game in that stadium, NFL stadium is always nice. In particular in a city that I know pretty well.”

Auburn will face Maryland on Saturday. The two schools have only played three times in their history. McAllister will line up against a Maryland offense that has been greatly impacted by opt-outs, most notably from star quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa. McAllister said it can be difficult to scout for a quarterback without much film to base anything off.

He will be facing Maryland with a very thin group of pass rushers. Only he and fellow jack linebacker Jalen McLeod have any significant experience at the position this season among the roster Auburn is bringing to Nashville.

McLeod and McAllister combined for 7.5 sacks this season. That is more than a quarter of Auburn’s total sacks as a team this season. McLeod, unlike McAllister, will be back next season.

But for McAllister, the goal of the bowl game isn’t just about winning it, but more focused on finishing his college career by leaving Auburn better than he found it.

This is McAllister’s full circle moment, back on the same practice field where he first put on a college uniform. He hopes in his final game, he can set up Auburn going into the 2024 season

“I just want to be able to leave this university and this team in a better place than I found out,” McAllister said on Dec. 19. “Our goal to start this year was ‘Flip the Script.’ I think it’ll be a nice thing to hang our hat on, flip the script and end with a bowl win. But also, just for me this week and these next coming weeks, just giving everything I have to the guys. Some guys are going to have opportunities to play, (and) play a lot this week. Just going to continue to give them everything I have mentally and physically so that they put their best foot forward out there.”

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]