Collegiate football can be brutal sometimes. It wasn’t but a week ago that Leigh Tiffin was in the regional spotlight, drawing comparisons to his legendary father Van Tiffin after two games.

Maybe the young man wasn’t ready for the pressure or maybe it was just bad luck. Maybe, just maybe it was several bad snaps. Who really knows what happened Saturday at Arkansas.

The one thing for certain is Tiffin has returned to the spotlight this week and I guarantee he would give it up in a heartbeat.

The big question now is how will the freshman handle the adversity he is facing?

Will he bounce back or is he done?

After Tiffin missed the extra point that secured the Tide’s fate, our page designer Phil Willis brought up an interesting question. He asked me if I thought John Vaughn would give Tiffin a call this week to talk about the problem?

At first, I said no. But after thinking about, it made a lot of sense.

If anyone knows what Tiffin is going through this week it’s Vaughn. Vaughn missed several crucial field goals in Auburn’s loss to LSU last year and was able to bounce back and become one of the better place-kickers in the SEC.

Even though it sounds crazy that an Auburn football player would ever call and give an Alabama football advice on how to handle a football related situation, you have to remember these are kickers we’re talking about.

These guys are usually shunned by their teammates and are off in their own little world during practice. Very rarely will a kicker find themselves in the spotlight. When they do get placed there it’s usually not for outstanding play, but because something like this has happened.

Vaughn knows first hand how difficult it’s going to be for Tiffin to go anywhere in Tuscaloosa this week. He knows that even though most people probably won’t bring it up, there’s still going to be a fear in the back of his mind that they will.

Vaughn also knows what it takes to come back despite all odds – the type of encouragement Tiffin needs to hear now.

So what better person for Tiffin to turn to for advice than the one person who lived through a similar situation.

Even though Tiffin’s father was one of Alabama’s all-time greatest kickers, he has never been in this type of situation.

It’s kind of odd that the guy with the answers for Tiffin just happens to be one of his biggest enemies.

But even though Vaughn is on the other side of enemy lines, you know his heart goes out to the Crimson Tide freshman.

Don’t think for one second that Vaughn has forgotten what he felt like last year and don’t think he hasn’t thought about giving Tiffin a call.