With Keionte Scott out, Freeze says Auburn will start catching punts with 'a lot' of different players
Auburn lost defensive back and punt returner Keionte Scott to injury on Saturday.
According to head coach Hugh Freeze, the Tigers are going to be without him for a while. It's a Hugh blow to the secondary.
"That hurts us a lot," Freeze said. "He's our leader back there, and he's going to have surgery today. Just hasn't been a good year for injuries, losing him and Keys on the defensive side stings and it hurts. We'll be without him for a considerable amount of time."
Over the course of 15 games with the Tigers, Scott has returned 18 punts for 211 yards (11.4 return average). He also has 63 total tackles, four pass deflections, an interception and a sack.
The Tigers are going to have to try some different things out at STAR, Scott's designated position, and punt returner, a position that gave Auburn trouble after Scott left the Samford game.
Ja'Varrius Johnson, Jay Fair and Jaylin Simpson all caught punts vs the Bulldogs. Is there a solidified No. 2 behind Scott at PR?
Freeze says no, and that there's going to be a lot of rotation during practice to find out who could step up.
"(Simpson) is going to be really really valuable for his presence there in the backend," Freeze said. "We'll start catching punts with a lot of different people today. Koy Moore has done it. Caleb Burton has done it. We'll get on the jugs twice this week and make sure we feel comfortable with who that is, and Jaylin may be one, too."
Auburn travels to College Station, Texas to take on the Texas A&M Aggies for their SEC opener. Kickoff is at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN.
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