It’s hard to blame them. Saturday was the third time in a still young season that Auburn lost a game it had every chance to win.
There were positives though, one of them being the play of a handful of Auburn’s freshmen. Demarcus Riddick, Malcolm Simmons, Cam Coleman and Kaleb Harris all had impressive games, giving Auburn fans a sliver of hope for the future.
Riddick was arguably Auburn’s MVP on defense, leading the team in tackling while tallying one of the team’s two sacks on the day.
“He a dog, man. He was ready for this moment,” senior BUCK linebacker Jalen McLeod said of Riddick.
Riddick functioned mostly as a spy on quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr., but was also utilized in the pass rush. He was used mainly on third downs, where he got his sack after chasing Hawkins down near the sideline.
Harris was another big part of Auburn’s impressive defensive performance. The freshman safety out of Thompson High Schol had four tackles, but a pair of huge plays.
The first was a third-down pass breakup in the first half and the second was a big hit on Hawkins near the goal line, helping Auburn’s defense make a goal line stand.
On offense, two members of the “Freeze four” had breakout games.
Malcolm Simmons, the speedy freshman from Alexander City, had 61 yards on four catches, including a 48-yard touchdown catch.
“It was surreal,” Simmons said of the play after the game. “Just me going out there and playing and knowing I can’t be covered one-on-one. Any time I get in there, the defense is like ‘oh, we’ve got to find a way to stop them.’”
While Coleman didn’t get in the endzone, he had his best performance of the season so far, catching three passes for 82 yards. All three of Coleman’s receptions were explosive plays, shaking off a third-down drop on the first drive of the game.
Not only did Coleman shake off the early drop against Oklahoma, but it was a performance that could help but costly drops against Arkansas and Cal behind him.
With Auburn now sitting 2-3, it feels like less and less can be taken from this season. If nothing else, though, the young players that created so much excitement during the offseason are starting to show off their potential.
Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m
