Auburn football injury update: Tigers getting healthier in final week of camp
The final week of preseason camp has begun for the Auburn Tigers and head coach Alex Golesh with a lot of action in store while classes kick into full gear for the fall semester.
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As that is happening there are players that are still recovering from being injured. From the impression Golesh gave after Friday’s scrimmage though, the Tigers are on a good track to being as healthy as they can be.
With another long week ahead, injury updates are being given on a number of players from both Golesh and from the observations the Auburn Undercover staff has made during practice.
During his opening press conference before preseason camp, Golesh stated that Newboy Fegans and Shamar Arnoux were both slated to be day-to-day with minor injuries, returning fully in the middle of camp.
Both players have now returned to action, with Arnoux having made a quicker appearance than Fegans. In Friday’s scrimmage, Fegans was held out of the physical scrimmage itself, but did everything else in the routine.
“(Fegans) worked out, ran, went through pregame warmups,” Golesh said. “We were just really, really careful with him.”
Sylvester Smith-Reed has spent the entirety of preseason camp up to this point donning an orange non-contact uniform. The safety was allowed to play in the scrimmage, but was told not to tackle.
“He’s not supposed to tackle anybody,” Golesh said. “He tackled the first play, and I had to remind him to stop tackling people.”
Golesh said there was no concern anymore though regarding Smith-Reed. The staff just wants to bring him back carefully so that he can stay healthy.
“Sly has been awesome playing a bunch of spots back there,” Golesh said. “We’ll let him tackle his next scrimmage. Again, similar to Chrisitan (Neptune). He’s just coming back from a shoulder. He’s 100 percent healthy. We’ve just tried to be careful with how fast it happens for him.”
Another safety Kaleb Harris was also a full participant in the scrimmage after having been limited in previous practices. However, he was never in a non-contact uniform.
Defensive lineman Chris Murray was reported at the beginning of camp to have a “touch-up deal” that he experienced in the summer. Since the report though, Murray has been seen returning to full speed in practices and is doing just fine.
On the other side of the football, Christian Neptune has also spent all of preseason camp in a non-contact jersey, with him and Smith-Reed being the only players outside of the quarterback room to experience that.
Like Fegans, Golesh really just wanted to be careful and mitigate any chance of reinjury in the scrimmage.
“He’s just simply still coming back,” Golesh said. “He’s practiced every day. He’ll get some contact in the next scrimmage. We’re just trying to make sure we’re smart with how we’re bringing him back.”
Running back Nykahi Davenport was held out of action on Friday with an undisclosed injury, having been seen as not being a major participant in drills in the day or two leading up to the action. He returned on Sunday though healthy.
Tight ends Jonathan Echols and Hunter Herring also did not play on Friday, but Golesh said that they were both just “dinged up” and “will be fine.”
One of the bigger stories of the camp though has been the return of Stanton Ramil to full health after having nagging injuries from his time at Michigan State.
The offensive lineman has been a full participant in practice and played the entirety of Friday’s scrimmage, which Golesh said was a positive sign as he continues to progress in his position.
“As we’ve brought (Ramil) back, he’s been on a snap count,” Golesh said. “Today he went the whole time which was really the first time for him in this offense to play just over a half, maybe two and a half quarters. He needed it just purely from an operating standpoint.”
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
