What Did Alex Golesh Say About The Status of These Four Injured Auburn Tigers?

The trenches are a brutal area for any player to play in college football, and the Auburn Tigers saw four different trench players removed from their season opener against Baylor this past Saturday with injuries. However, on Monday, Auburn head coach Alex Golesh told the press that three of the four are–or should be–good to go this weekend against Southern Mississippi.

Of the four, two players were on the offensive line, while two others were on the defensive line. On the offensive line, right guard Cole Skinner, a transfer from USF, and left guard Jacob Strand should be good to go this week after being removed during the second half of the Baylor game and not returning.

Defensively, the Tigers lost out on Da’Shawn Womack and Chris Murray, a pair of edge rushers, throughout the Baylor matchup, and their absence was certainly felt as the team had a much more difficult time getting to Baylor quarterback DJ Lagway as the game went on.

Murray is officially good to go, according to Golesh, though Womack is still day-to-day with a lower-body injury; Golesh is hoping to get him back into practice and eventually the lineup sometime this week.

The Tigers run a three-man rotation at each of the guard spots, so the ‘next man up’ mentality served them well throughout the game, as the Tigers still managed to muster a game-winning 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, even with two of their top guards looking on from the sideline.

Defensively, however, the Tigers struggled to replace the production of both Murray and Womack, so the news that Murray, at least, is fully healthy bodes well for the Tigers. Even if Womack is unavailable for the Southern Mississippi game, the Tigers’ top edge rusher should still be fine by the time the real challenge, the Florida game, rolls around in two weeks’ time.

As in every year of college football, injuries play a massive part in the success of a season, and the fact that the Tigers’ offense was able to operate well despite two offensive lineman injuries bodes well for their chances this season. However, the Tigers’ defense will need to find a way to step up if Womack, Murray or any of their other key players are unavailable if they want to keep up this pace for the rest of their season.

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