With the decision announced by Auburn officials that all University employees must be fully vaccinated to remain employed, all eyes ave turned to Tigers football coach Bryan Harsin.

Harsin tested positive for COVID-19 in August but at the time declined to disclose whether or not be had been vaccinated or planned to be.

During his weekly press conference Monday, Harsin was asked about his vaccination status as it pertains to Auburn’s new policy and he offered the following to the media in attendance.

“Yeah, you go back to not just media days, but also in August, I had the chance to talk to you guys about that as well. So I’m aware of the new policy,” Harsin said. “I appreciate you have to ask the question and understand it, but it doesn’t change … I mean, the executive order, all of those things, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m not going to discuss any individual’s decision or status on the vaccine or anyone else’s including my own, like I said before.

“So from the beginning, I think I’ve made it clear that that wasn’t something that I was going to talk about or discuss. I wasn’t going to go down that road and don’t feel like right now that’s any different. We’re focused on Ole Miss. We’re focused on the things we have to do to get prepared for this week. There’s a lot of other things right now that we have to make sure we’re ready for on this football team. That’s what I’ve got to stay focused on with our players and our staff and the people in this program. So we’ve had those conversations, but that doesn’t change what I’ve said before.”

The situation with Harsin is likely only going intensify leading up to the December 8 deadline for all Auburn employees to comply given that Washington State coach Nick Rolovich was recently fired for not complying with a similar mandate.

Rolovich has announced that he intends on suing the school for his dismissal.

Auburn, ranked 18th nationally, will play host the 10th-ranked Rebels on Saturday.