Auburn injury update: Alex Golesh discusses Jacob Strand, Tai Buster ahead of Ole Miss
The Auburn Tigers took hit after hit after hit on Saturday in a 38-17 loss to the LSU Tigers, falling to 4-3 on the season overall and 2-3 in the SEC slate.
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Auburn now turns the page towards the final game of the month of October, which will be its third true road game of the season against the Ole Miss Rebels in Oxford, Mississippi.
With all of the physicality that the team has faced up into this point of the season, the Tigers have maintained a solid resume from a health perspective. Head Coach Alex Golesh updated the media on that front on Monday during his weekly press conference at the Woltosz Football Performance Center, talking about a couple of players on the offensive front.
The Auburn offensive line has done a fair amount of shuffling around through the first seven games of the season, and truly up until the Georgia game two weeks ago, the line has not stayed consistent.
Jacob Strand, an Oregon State transfer who came in as a guard but has been starting at left tackle, exited Saturday’s contest with injury and did not return to the game.
Golesh affirmed in the press availability however that Strand was going to be okay.
“Jacob will be fine as we go here,” Golesh said.
On the outskirts of the line, redshirt freshman tackle Tai Buster, who has not been on the field at all in the 2026 season due to injury.
On report day of preseason camp, Golesh announced to the media that Buster suffered an “unfortunate deal” at the end of the summer period, and would be out for an extensive period of time that the head coach projected to be at least the first half of the season.
Buster had been praised for his performance up to that point in the summer period, working his way to compete for a spot on the two-deep depth chart.
According to Golesh though, the tackle is still a little bit from returning to game action.
“Tai is working his tail off. I give Tai a lot of credit,” Golesh said. “He's working through a return to play. The hope is here in the next couple weeks we get him fully integrated in practice and it gives us a chance to see where he is.”
On Oct. 5, Golesh said at the Monday Morning Quarterback Club in Birmingham that in the last few days of September leading into October, Buster began his onfield running progression and was taking some time to get back up there before being engrained in contact stuff.
Golesh added on Monday that Buster is continuing to work hard to get back out on the field, something he continues to be impressed by.
“He's been engaged,” Golesh said. “I give him a lot of credit again. Been engaged. He's itching to get back out there. I thought when he got banged up, he was competing at a high level, so we're excited to get him back here soon.”
Buster will not play against Ole Miss on Saturday in Oxford, but the trajectory for him is looking up as the weeks progress.
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
