Top Auburn Cornerback Expected to Play Few Snaps vs Oklahoma

The Auburn Tigers don't expect to rely on their top cornerback for much of their game against Oklahoma

Auburn Tigers cornerback Jay Crawford should see action, but not much | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

Jay Crawford has been a bright spot for the Auburn Tigers’ struggling secondary over the last two years, and the cornerback’s effort even resulted in him earning All-American honors after his first season on the Plains.

He’s also earned a spot on the PFF team of the week twice, after his performances in last year’s Missouri and Kentucky games. Additionally, he also garnered 247Sports true freshman of the week honors for his performance against Kentucky.

Unfortunately for his home-team Tigers, though, Crawford has been sidelined and reported as doubtful ahead of the Oklahoma game, though Hugh Freeze told reporters Thursday that he expects Crawford to be on the field, at least for a limited time.

On3’s Justin Hokanson reported that Hugh Freeze said he “didn’t expect [cornerback] Jay Crawford to play many snaps against [Oklahoma]... Freeze expects Rayshawn Pleasant to possibly get more snaps at corner opposite Kayin Lee.”

Interestingly, Rayshawn Pleasant is also listed on the Tigers’ injury report, albeit as questionable, meaning he has a 50 percent chance to play, per the SEC’s availability reporting rules. Either way, though, that spot in the Tigers’ rotation is likely to be young, inexperienced, or injured.

Against a strong Oklahoma offense led by near-thousand-yard passer John Mateer, the Tigers are going to need all the help they can get in the secondary, so Crawford’s exclusion from this roster means other Tigers will be forced to step up if the team wants to take down 11th-ranked Oklahoma.

Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze is confident in his younger players’ ability to step up and play, especially ahead of the inevitable injuries that’ll be sustained in the Tigers’ grueling SEC schedule.

“Somebody inevitably will go down, and someone has to step up and do that. For us, it’s going to be some young kids that are in those roles,” Freeze said. “Offensively, you’ve seen kind of who we’re going to play, and defensively, I would expect to see pretty much the same.”

Auburn will kick off its first SEC game of 2025 this Saturday at Oklahoma, which will be played at 2:30 p.m. CDT and broadcast on ESPN.