‘It is something special’: Auburn football coach surprises player’s mother with gift

Sandra Wooten, a kindergarten teacher at Bryant Elementary School in Mableton, Ga., had a surprise courtesy Auburn running backs coach Tim Horton waiting for her on Thursday.

Wooten shared on Twitter the end-of-spring-practice present she received from Horton and his wife, Lauren. The package contained a note from Horton as well as newspaper clippings about Wooten’s son Chandler, who is a rising sophomore linebacker for the Tigers.

“With spring practice over, and final exams approaching fast, things are always busy on the plains,” Horton wrote. “My wife, Lauren, cuts out and saves newspaper articles on our players and I wanted to send them to you. We all appreciate your support so much.”

To say the efforts of Horton and is wife meant a lot to Wooten would be an understatement, judging from her reaction.

“It is something special to come in from a long day to find that one of your Auburn coach (sic), @CoachTimHorton and his lovely wife, Lauren clipped articles of your son during his freshman year and have sent them!” Wooten wrote. “Simply Special.”

Chandler Wooten appeared in eight games for the Tigers as a true freshman and ended his first season at Auburn with eight tackles. The Acworth, Ga., native played on Auburn’s Orange Team in the A-Day scrimmage and had one tackle in the victory.

This story was originally published April 20, 2018 at 1:30 PM with the headline "‘It is something special’: Auburn football coach surprises player’s mother with gift."