The NFL Combine is a weeklong expedition for information. For NFL teams, it’s about learning as much as they can about draft prospects—from formal and informal interviews to players’ medical testing to the on-field workouts at Lucas Oil Stadium.

After all, if a franchise is going to invest its resources, millions of dollars in most cases, in a player, it’s going to want to make sure it has dotted all the I’s, crossed the T’s and done its due diligence on a prospect.

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For the media gathered in Indianapolis this week, it was also about digging up information. Some of its useful and insightful, some of it mundane, like when a player is asked a handful of times within a short span whether he has met with Team X or Team Y yet, and whether that meeting was formal or informal. Still, the week of interviews can provide some interesting nuggets on the players in attendance, so AL.com compiled the most interesting thing each of Auburn’s six players at the NFL Combine said during their time on the podium at the Indiana Convention Center this week.

Here’s what we learned:

Tank Bigsby, running back

The former Auburn running back was a three-year starter on the Plains after signing with the Tigers in 2020. During his three seasons, he ran for 2,903 yards and 25 touchdowns, averaging 5.4 yards per carry and wrapping up his career and finishing seventh on the program’s all-time rushing list.

His three seasons weren’t a walk in the park, however. His freshman year took place during the pandemic-impacted 2020 season, which ended with Gus Malzahn getting fired. His sophomore year saw his effectiveness take a hit, even as he became Auburn’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Kerryon Johnson in 2017, and the Tigers closed on a five-game losing streak. That offseason, the school launched an inquiry into then-coach Bryan Harsin, who survived to see the season but was fired on Halloween after a winless October and an overall losing record on the Plains. Then Cadillac Williams took over as interim coach and brought some life back to the program.

“Well, you know, going through Auburn three years, I’d say no year was easy,” Bigsby said. “It grew me as a man, you know. I overcame a lot of things with my teammates. It showed me what a brotherhood is when guys are in that mud together and you get out. You got to grab each other’s arms, and you got to pick each other up. So, it showed me a lot. Leaning on each other and just helping each other—coaches, we’re all leaning on each other and trying to come out of a hole, a deep hole. Some of that we did come out of toward the end.”

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Derick Hall, edge

Derick Hall is a fierce weapon off the edge, relying on a combination of speed and power that made him one of the SEC’s most effective pass-rushers the last two seasons. But the 6-foot-3, 254-pounder also has a more polished side to him off the field.

Hall this week discussed his passion for construction (he was in the Construction Club at Gulfport High in Mississippi). He credited his former teach Dave Huffman, who taught construction technology for Gulfport’s STEM Institute and nourished Hall’s interest in building things like tiny houses. It’s a skill Hall said he even used to make money off while back home on break during his college career. Hall also dished on his musical background, which includes some choir experience.

“That was the kind of thing that was forced on me a little bit,” Hall said. “It wasn’t nothing that I wanted to do. My family, they all sing. My mom, she sings, and my sister, so I was kind of just pushed into that role. I always — I did band in middle school; I played the tuba and stuff like that, which had nothing to do with singing. But yeah, they kind of pushed me to that singing role, and I kind of enjoyed it a little bit, to be honest with you.”

Colby Wooden, defensive line

Colby Wooden could be a Day 2 pick in next month’s NFL Draft, but before he ever picked up a football, baseball was his first sport. Though, that didn’t last too long, he explained this week.

“Coming up, my first sport was baseball, then I got hit in the mouth and said, ‘Know what? This ain’t for me,’” Wooden said. “So, I chose a more violent sport — football. After football, I chose basketball for like two years, but then that was too much running for me, so I stuck with football.”

How exactly did Wooden manage to get hit in the mouth playing baseball? He said he wasn’t paying attention and was caught looking at third base when the ball came his way and smacked him in the face.

“I don’t know what I was doing,” Wooden said.

Owen Pappoe, linebacker

Owen Pappoe stole the spotlight in Indianapolis this week with his showing during workouts at the NFL Combine, proving again why he earned the nickname The Freak back in eighth grade. Pappoe ran a 4.39 in the 40-yard dash, which was the best time among all linebacker at the combine. He then put up 29 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press, which was again tops among his position.

Pappoe was a four-year starter at Auburn after signing with the program as a five-star recruit and top-25 overall player in the 2019 class, but he didn’t start playing football until the seventh grade. He hadn’t even watched much football to that point; basketball and soccer were the sports of choice in his household. Both of Pappoe’s parents are from Liberia on the west coast of Africa, so those sports were more familiar. Football was a foreign concept to them — and something his mother is still learning, even as Pappoe prepares for the NFL Draft.

“My dad gets it a lot,” Pappoe said. “My mom still — she calls quarterbacks the pitcher sometimes. It’s kind of funny. Stuff like that, saying ‘You scored a goal.’ It’s funny, but she’s getting it more and more each day.”

Anders Carlson, kicker

Anders Carlson was part of a near-decade’s long kicking dynasty at Auburn, where his older brother Daniel kicked from 2014-17 while becoming the SEC’s all-time leading scorer before the younger Carlson kicked for the Tigers from 2018-22.

Anders Carlson finished his career as No. 2 on Auburn’s career scoring list and in career made field goals, ranking behind his big brother in both categories. Prior to focusing on place-kicking, Carlson played soccer and basketball growing up in Colorado Spring, Colo., but he shared this week that if he could choose a sport to go pro in that wasn’t football, he’d choose golf.

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Carlson is an avid golfer, and he even played a round in Alexander City with several teammates and former Auburn coach Gus Malzahn last summer the day of Carlson’s wedding. (Carlson even noted at the time that Malzahn got a birdie on the 18th hole to close out the round).

While Carlson wouldn’t mind a professional golf career, he wanted to make one distinction.

“I’d be on the PGA, not LIV, just to be clear,” he said this week.

Eku Leota, edge

Eku Leota came to Auburn before the 2021 season after starting his career at Northwestern. Leota was a productive addition to Auburn’s edge group, which lacked depth beyond Hall, even though his time in an Auburn uniform was cut short due to a pectoral injury last season.

Still, Leota appreciated the opportunity to work alongside Hall and learn from the two-time All-SEC defender.

“When I first got there, it wasn’t a walk in the park; we were competing when I first got there,” Leota said. “Derick set the tone that we’re here to work. I’m happy that Derick took me under his wing and didn’t take it easy on me as a player.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.