No one wants to face their rival at less than full strength. But that may be where Auburn finds itself Saturday.
Gus Malzahn said that, as of Tuesday, he was not sure whether either of the Tigers’ starting offensive tackles would be available to face No. 1 Alabama on Saturday (2:30 p.m. CT, CBS).
“Obviously it’s no secret right now that we’ve been beat up front offensively,” Malzahn said. “We’ll see if we’re able to get our tackles back. I don’t know at this point right now.”
Right tackle Brodarious Hamm went down with an apparent lower body injury in the fourth quarter of Auburn’s win over Tennessee and did not re-enter the game. Left tackle Austin Jackson suffered what appeared to be a hand or wrist injury in the third quarter and only briefly returned.
If those two are both unable to play, Auburn would be down three of its original five starting lineman after right guard Brandon Council suffered a season-ending knee injury on Oct. 24.
Junior Austin Troxell is the most likely replacement if either are unable to play Saturday. He entered in place of Jackson against the Volunteers. Brendan Coffey entered in place of Hamm and could also be turned to.
After those two, the questions do not have any clear answers. Junior college transfer Kilian Zierer is coming back from a knee injury suffered last fall that required surgery. He dressed against Tennessee and has continued to progress.
“Kilian is getting better each week,” Malzahn said. “He is getting healthier. He had the knee surgery in the offseason, but he has gotten better. He’s gotten quite a few reps and he’s a guy that is in the mix. There are quite a few new guys that are in the mix this week that we’ll need to have a good week of practice and be prepared to play.”
“It’s next man up,” Malzahn said. “Just got to step up and get the job done. So that’s our mindset.”
Tank Bigsby is also questionable to play, after appearing to suffer a hip injury against Tennessee.
“Obviously he couldn’t return last week. So, we’ll see how he progresses this week,” Malzahn said. “Hopefully by the end of the week we’ll have an idea of whether he’ll be able to go or not.”
If he is unable to play, Shaun Shivers and D.J. Williams would be the primary running backs.
Auburn had one player test positive in the latest round of testing, according to a team spokesman.
Prior to this positive, Auburn’s latest positive test came during their open date two weeks ago, when 10 players and three staff members tested positive.