Auburn freshman tight end Landon Rice is no longer with the team because of “personal reasons.”

“Landon has left the team for personal reasons,” said Malzahn after the team’s win yesterday via ledger-enquirer.com. “He’s got a great family. His brother still plays for us.”

Rice didn’t travel with the team prior to its game against Arkansas State. Rice seemed to be dedicated to the Tigers despite only being a freshman, as he was the first player to commit to the program in the class of 2016. Rice was only a sophomore in high school.

His father said teams tried to pry him away from Auburn as well, but he said Landon would tell them his heart says, “War Eagle.”

“When Landon committed, coach Malzahn told him he wanted him ready to hit the field when he got on campus and not think about redshirting,” his father said.

After Rice didn’t play in the team’s season-opener against Clemson, Malzahn was asked about it. Malzahn then avoided Rice’s name, only talking about Jalen Harris and how he “did an outstanding job.”