Auburn Tigers Injury Update, DB Lost for Season

Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze provided an injury update for his squad including losing a defensive back for the season.

Auburn Tigers place kicker Alex McPherson battling health issue over the summer. / Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports

Auburn Tigers head football coach Hugh Freeze spoke to the media earlier this week about everything under the sun. Among those things was letting people know that the injury bug was already making its way into the locker room. 

Former 4-star recruit Tyler Scott, a top five player in the Auburn 2023 class, will miss the entire 2024 season after suffering a torn ACL. 

“Unfortunately, we lost Tyler Scott for the year with an ACL in workouts” said Freeze. “Other than that, I think we are pretty good.”

Scott, who redshirted in 2023, was expected to be competing for starting snaps this year after appearing in four games last season. Scott initially entered his name into the transfer portal in the spring but ultimately decided to stay at Auburn. 

The Tiger took hits at the position in the spring portal, losing second year corner Colton Hood to Colorado. Hood was a player who had shown promise in practice over the last year and was slated to be a major piece of the puzzle in the defense. 

With the depth of the Auburn secondary immediately being put to the test, look to see a guy like Alabama transfer Antonio Kite take a step up. The players that you should be seeing starting at the cornerback position are veterans Kayin Lee and Keionte Scott. 

Also having issues is kicker Alex McPherson, who was one of the most consistent players on the field for Auburn last season. McPherson didn’t miss a single kick, going 13 for 13 on field goals as well as making all 40 extra points he attempted. 

“Alex is battling an issue; it’s a weird issue and I really don’t want to go into that. I think he will be okay. It’s not an injury, he is battling a health issue that is taking a while to get diagnosed. It has to do with his gastrointestinal and I think they are on the path to being on the right track,” said Freeze.

McPherson was ranked as the #1 kicker in the 2022 class and is considered by most as one of the best returning kickers in college football. 

The only other injury Coach Freeze mentioned was offensive lineman Tate Johnson who will be getting a “little surgery”, but Freeze assured that it wouldn’t be anything that resulted in missed time for fall camp.