It's finally here. Runnin' routes and doin' drills. Here's a little injury report from 247. Looks like they'll probably take it easy with a few guys but overall, looks like we're coming in healthy. Oh, I highlighted the kiss of death for Will Hastings.
Auburn will enter preseason camp with a couple of injured players attempting to work their way back into the rotation.
The Tigers open preseason practices Friday at the Auburn Athletics Complex, where the Tigers begin their slate of 14 practices in 17 days before the fall semester begins.
Defensive tackle
Daquan Newkirk and Nickel
Jordyn Peters are recovering from Achilles injuries that required surgery and forced them to miss spring practices in March and April.
"Two guys that had the Achilles, we're gonna wait and see what that looks like at the very start of fall camp," Auburn coach
Gus Malzahn said at SEC Media Days. "We've got a couple shoulders that we're waiting on. But for the most part it's looking good right now."
Newkirk has suffered two separate injuries to an Achilles tendon since his arrival at Auburn in 2018. He ruptured a tendon before spring practices in 2018, but did return later in the season, his first, on campus. He is a big part of Auburn's plans at defensive tackle this season, though it remains to be seen how much he will factor into the race for the starting job next to All-SEC defensive tackle Derrick Brown.
Tyrone Truesdell,
Coynis Miller, Newkirk and potentially Buck pass rusher
Nick Coe will compete for playing time at tackle.
Peters is expected to be
Christian Tutt's backup at Nickel, and could rotate between corner and Nickel during the season if needed. He accumulated 24 tackles, including 3.5 for losses and one sack, while playing in all 13 games last season.
Beyond Newkirk and Peters, the Tigers are expecting several players to return from offseason surgeries to compete when preseason camp begins Friday.
Buck pass rushers
Big Kat Bryant (shoulder) and
Nick Coe (hand), receivers
Will Hastings (knee) and
Eli Stove (knee), and backup safety
Smoke Monday (shoulder) are expected to be available Friday. Malzahn wasn't clear on whether the players with the shoulder injuries will be fully cleared for contact practices, however.
"I will say this about last year:
Eli Stove and Will Hastings’ (injuries) were really a big blow to us from the standpoint that those guys were proven big-play guys to get open versus man (coverage)," Malzahn said. "That was a big blow to our offense last year. To have those guys back with their experience gives us a real shot in the arm. Then, the good thing now is that we didn’t have them last year but the young guys got a chance to grow up and have experience —
Anthony Schwartz,
Seth Williams, those guys have real quality game experience. You have these two guys in, and it just gives us more depth. When we’ve been at our best, we’ve had receivers that really understood our offense make adjustments."
Malzahn believes Hastings has a future in the NFL. The former walkon kicker moved to receiver in the spring of 2017 and had a breakout season with 26 catches for 525 yards and four touchdowns. He suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the spring of 2018, returned for a couple of games (no catches) in the fall and then re-injured the knee in September, requiring another surgery in October. Hastings is cleared for full contact, Malzahn said.
Stove underwent surgery to repair an ACL in March 2018, but wasn't fully cleared until April 13.
Injuries heading into preseason camp
DL
Nick Coe (hand), will practice
DL
Daquan Newkirk (Achilles), questionable
DL
Big Kat Bryant (shoulder), probable
WR
Will Hastings (knee), will practice
WR
Eli Stove (knee), will practice
DB
Jordyn Peters (Achilles), questionable
DB
Smoke Monday (shoulder), probable
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