Dante's Home Page         Dante's Junior Season (2001)        The Dante Booker File (Life History)       Other Articles on Dante
Auburn University Football                Tigerland.com (a collection of all Auburn articles)              Season Stats (2001)   

TEAM JAM Football Directory                  TEAM JAM's Sports Directory                   TEAM JAM's Main Directory

2001 SEASON

EXTENSIVE TIME AGAINST LSU

In the game that most determined Auburn's post season fate, Dante was the first defensive tackle off the bench throughout the game.  Backing up both Spencer Johnson and DeMarco McNeil, Dante tallied a couple of solo tackles and assisted on a tackle for a loss.  He also had one other big stop on a goal line stand that did not count in his tackle totals because the running back for LSU found a way to get the ball across the goal line.

Game Stats

Season Stats

DANTE HEADS TO THE LOCKER ROOM AFTER THE SYRACUSE GAME

MEDIA COVERAGE IN 2001

"Newest Recruit to Bolster Defensive Line"     www.autigers.com    August 8, 2001

 Booker Finds a Home"     Huntsville Times(Ala.)      August 11, 2001

"Booker's Path Long to Auburn"      Decateur Daily(Ala.)   August 14, 2001

"Recipe for Success"      Columbus Ledger-Enquirer      August 15, 2001
(Coach Tuberville remembers this same kind of scenario when Cortez Kennedy 
arrived at the last minute at Miami, Fla.)

"Booker Moves Inside"          Huntsville Times (Ala.)        August 16, 2001  

 "Booker Learning on the Job"        The Birmingham News            August 26, 2001

AUBURN UPSETS #1 FLORIDA
For more on this story

FIRST GAME MEMORIES

Dante makes one of his tackles against Ball State

On September 4, 2001, autigers.com's Jason Caldwell reported that  "Inside at defensive tackle, the rapid improvement of Dante Booker continues to be the story of the season.  Only three weeks into his college football career, the junior college transfer has moved into a position to split reps with Dexter Murphy at second team left tackle behind Demarco McNeil."

Caldwell continued to report Coach Lovett as saying that "Last week he kind of got initiated into college football a little bit.  This week (against Ole Miss) being a TV game and an SEC game, the goose bumps might be there a little bit for him as far as maybe getting down as much he needs to be.  Again, we'll keep an eye on him but he's made some great strides this week he should have an increased role."

I'd say !!!!    The man had five tackles, four solos.  One tackle was for a loss and another was for a sack, one of only three on the day by the team.  He played only 17 snaps, yet was in on almost one third of the plays.   Dante graded out at a gaudy 123%.