The 2010 football season is officially over, and Auburn has won the national championship. The current players are in the middle of off-season workouts, while the seniors have completed their time in the workout room. While many of these seniors are finishing up classes in order to graduate, a few others have already moved on from college and are training for the NFL.


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On Saturday, February 26, many of these seniors gathered in Birmingham to cook out and spend time with their friends and family. The Christopher family hosted the party, and everyone plus their families showed up to partake in the celebration.

Since the end of football season, Ryan Pugh has been living in Atlanta training for the NFL with Lee Ziemba. Neil Caudle is finishing up his last few hours in order to graduate from college and move on to find a job. Wade Christopher is preparing to graduate and go to medical school. And Philip Lutzenkirchen is still in school and participating in team workouts. While they all have different events taking place in their lives, they continue to stay close friends. These guys make time to see each other, and enjoy every minute that they can get.

“All of our families were there, so it was great. We were able to interact and have a great time of fellowship,” said Ryan Pugh. “We ate approximately 160 pounds of crawfish and four bushels of oysters.”

The back yard was decorated with pictures of the guys and their families, along with an open bar, a ping pong table with a bracket for a tournament, a table for shucking raw oysters, and a table full of crawfish. When Pablo, the man hired to help with the food, brought to the Christophers’ attention that the crawfish were not moving, a bunch of people pitched in with rubber gloves moving the crawfish around to see if there was any chance that they would come back to life. The crawfish had appeared to be too cold on top of the ice, and once they started moving everyone was able to relax again.

“The amount of cayenne pepper put on the crawfish was outrageous!” said Pugh. “When the second batch was brought out, we told Pablo to not put near as much spice on it. There was enough spice left on the table from the first batch to season the second batch perfectly.”

“Everyone had a great time,” said Pugh. “Once the crawfish were brought out, my dad didn’t leave the table for about an hour and a half.”