WATCH: Walker Kessler delivers emotional goodbye and thank you to Auburn fans

Former Auburn center Walker Kessler delivered one of the most historic seasons in college basketball this year. The 7-foot-1, 245 pounder made a huge jump of improvement from his freshman year with the North Carolina Tar Heels to his sophomore year with the Tigers. He averaged 11.4 points per game, 8.1 rebounds per game, and 4.6 blocks per game. The gifted shot blocker won the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year after he shattered Auburn’s single-season blocks record with 144 total blocks on the season. Kessler recently declared that he would be turning pro and entering the 2022 NBA Draft. On Sunday afternoon, he dropped a video on his Twitter page where he delivered an emotional goodbye and thank you message to the Auburn fan base.

Watch it below.

Dear Auburn, Thank you! 🦅🧡💙🦅 https://t.co/6zXPBFhGHY

— Walker Kessler (@WalkerKessler13) April 10, 2022

Here’s what he said in the video. “Wow. What a season. We set off to make history and we did. And none of this would have been possible without y’all. Without the support of The Jungle. Without the support of The University. The support of the town. It wouldn’t have been possible. Every home game I felt the atmosphere. And it was like a dream,” Kessler said.

“Having everyone in this arena cheering for you and wishing the best for you and wishing you to succeed. There’s no feeling like it. It makes you weightless. Float. For that I can’t thank y’all enough. To everyone, I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in without y’all. Without y’alls support and love. I wouldn’t be able to accomplish the things I have accomplished and will accomplish without y’all. And to all of you, I say thank you,” he said.

In becoming the first Auburn player to ever bring home the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award, Kessler beat out some incredibly talented players in college basketball. He beat out Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren, Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe, and Duke’s Mark Williams for the annual award.

Kessler was highly thought of as a high school prospect and he showed exactly why last year

Coming out of high school, Kessler was rated as the No. 4 center prospect in America, according to the On3 Consensus Rankings and was rated as the No. 21 overall prospect in America for the 2020 recruiting class. It’s refreshing to see a player live up to their vast potential and the gifted big man showed last season exactly why he was so highly thought of coming out of Woodward Academy (Fairburn, Georgia). It’ll be exciting to watch his career continue to develop in the future in the NBA.

On3’s Griffin McVeigh also contributed to this article.