Auburn center Dylan Cardwell stuck it out as a result of faith. Now he’s reaping the benefits.

(Photo Credit: Auburn Athletics)

They “weren’t even hot wheels,” but the impact they made was enough to change Auburn center Dylan Cardwell’s life. 

Cardwell and his teammates stood on a street corner in Honduras with a few “one cent” toy cars in their hands and waited for a group of underprivileged kids to come and take the cars with them. As each kid came and went, Cardwell noticed something jarring within them. 

“These kids would just have the biggest, brightest smile on their face just receiving a toy car,” Cardwell told Southeastern 16. “They didn’t have the PS5, they didn’t have footballs, they didn’t have anything and they were just happy just to be in company with other kids.”

A look at each kid caused Cardwell to take a look at himself. It caused him to realize the futile perspective that he often operated with. It caused him to reflect on what he prioritized. Oftentimes in an emotional foreign setting, a feeling like that quickly comes and goes. For Cardwell it continued, though. 

The Augusta, Georgia, native was different when he got on the plane than when he got off of it a few days prior.

Cardwell had just completed a mission trip to Honduras alongside a group of his teammates and Auburn team chaplain Jeremy Napier. The group worked with the Forgotten Children’s ministry which has honed in on its efforts to “rescue the forgotten and abandoned street children of Honduras.” Cardwell has since donated $14,000 to the ministry’s efforts. 

What happened on that trip has stuck with the 6-foot-11 senior. 

“It was a life-changing trip for me, it just changed my perspective in so many different ways.” Cardwell said. “You really realize that nothing really matters. Money doesn’t matter. Job position doesn’t matter. The things you acquire don’t matter. It’s just about how you have an impact on the people around you.”

As a result, it’s hard to wipe the smile off of Cardwell’s face. He still thinks about the kids he saw on that street corner in Honduras and the people that impacted him on his previous mission trip to El Salvador. 

Cardwell went to each of those places as a result of his faith, which he says guides him daily. He believes that he was sent to each of them for a purpose. 

“The Lord is not a Lord of coincidence,” Cardwell said. “He just has everything purposefully planned out, bad or good in my sight. It’s always gonna be good for us because it’s him, he’s leading me through it.”

Cardwell doesn’t think like everyone else, but most people around the program he’s called home for the last five years don’t. Perhaps players like Cardwell–and their mindsets–are Auburn’s secret ingredient in a season in which it’s been No. 1 in the AP Poll for the last seven weeks. 

The fifth-year center has never averaged above 5.5 points per game in a season and had started just two college games before this season, but he never wavered. He knew Auburn was the place for him. 

“My faith kind of kept me planted here,” Cardwell told Southeastern 16. “The Lord didn’t have me leave. I didn’t really have a want to leave. I didn’t really care for leaving because the Lord gave me so much here off the court where it was like ‘it made no sense for me to go and restart somewhere else.’ I was big on loyalty and I wanted to go to a 40-year program where I was like ‘alright, even if I’m gone and I’m done with basketball I can come back to the school and still have an impact.’”

Cardwell’s aspiration to have an impact has clearly amounted to something. 

“If you look up Auburn man in the dictionary, it will have Dylan Cardwell’s picture,” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. “He fell in love with Auburn, and Auburn fell in love with him. It’s an incredible relationship. So many other players would have left. Walker Kessler is coming in? [He could’ve said] I’m outta here. Johni Broome is coming in? [He could’ve said] I’m outta here. He stayed.”

The fifth-year senior has been rewarded for “chopping wood” and sacrificing his role for the good of Auburn’s whole as he’s started all 29 games for Auburn’s regular season SEC regular season championship team. 

He also became the winningest player in Auburn’s program history in Saturday’s win over Kentucky. 

“I don’t know if and when that ever gets broken,” Pearl said. “That could become a record that doesn’t get broken.”

When an Auburn fan remembers Cardwell’s career, they’ll likely remember his infectious energy in each win. They’ll remember the effect of his athleticism and physicality around the basket.

Cardwell will remember all of those things fondly, but will also remember something more important to him. 

“I got saved when I was a freshman in college,” the now fifth-year senior says. “I kind of really started my faith journey in a serious standpoint when I got to Auburn. I wasn’t as deep in my faith in high school because I was young. Auburn’s played a very vital role in growing me and growing my faith.”

The Georgia native grew up in a “praying household,” but didn’t attend church often as a kid. He had the idea, but needed someone to push him towards it. 

“My mom was just single and she didn’t have much time, so I didn’t grow up in the church,” Cardwell said, “but I always grew up praying.”

Cardwell says he always understood “the idea of God, but didn’t know God truly.” The road to greater understanding came for the Auburn center later. 

The Augusta, Georgia, native played two seasons at Evans High School before ultimately transferring to Oak Hill Academy. Cardwell says he “was not qualified” to play there, but believes he ultimately got an opportunity to play there as a result of his mother’s fasting and her continual prayers that the door to Oak Hill would be opened for him. 

Cardwell ultimately ended up at Oak Hill. 

“That’s kind of when I realized like ‘oh my goodness, like the Lord’s hand is on my life,” Cardwell said. “I knew he was real, and I started praying every day after that”

At that point the then high schooler was still searching for success on the floor more than he was searching in his spiritual life. He believes that as a result, he sat behind former Illinois star Kofi Cockburn at Oak Hill.

He’d then continue to receive correction in his mindset. The then three-star prospect saw the allure of playing with five-star point guard Sharife Cooper–an Auburn commit–so he left Oak Hill in hopes of returning to his home state and running the pick and roll with Cooper at McEachern High School. 

McEachern coach Mike Thompson and Cardwell pushed through the transfer process, but the Georgia High School Association ultimately ruled Cardwell ineligible. 

“Some athletic board in Georgia thought it was a good idea to not let the kid play because he didn’t transfer the right way,” Pearl said. “That was a great decision, pal.”

Cardwell had a more positive approach on the situation. 

“The Lord was really just challenging me, like ‘who are you without basketball?’” Cardwell said. “I had to figure that out. Who am I without basketball? That was kind of where my faith really got serious in my senior year of high school. The Lord kind of became first in my spiritual order rather than it being basketball first.”

Auburn’s staff decided to still take Cardwell’s commitment because of the work ethic, speed and general ability that they believed he had. The Georgia native committed in May of his senior year before enrolling that summer. 

Once Cardwell enrolled, he found himself surrounded by people that pushed him to continue to pursue his faith and all that came with it. Walk-on guard Chase Maasdorp, in particular, made an impact on Cardwell. Maasdorp would often invite Cardwell to lunches and would invite him to church as well as a small group called “Freedom.” 

Cardwell became immersed in his group and attended a conference with them that changed things for good for him. 

On April 24, 2021, Cardwell was baptized. 

“It mean a lot to me,” he said. “I didn’t know he was capable of using basketball to continue to spread his gospel and be a kind of a walking ministry and a welcome testimony, just by hooping. I always thought that if you surrender to God, then you’re just gonna be a pastor, you’re gonna be a preacher, and that’s not something at the time that I wanted. I just wanted to hoop and so I really struggled with that early on.”

Cardwell wears his emotions on his sleeve, but does the same with his faith. Look at his joy. Look at the enthusiasm he talks with. Look at his use of scripture on social media. 

Look at how he’s stuck with his conviction of staying at Auburn. In an era in which many would’ve left, Cardwell has chosen to stay at Auburn and to stick with what he believes. He’s reaped the benefits of that mentality. 

“Whatever he has me go through, he has me go through it for a purpose,” Cardwell said.

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