Gus Malzahn updates the status of 3 Auburn WRs who have been dealing with injuries
By Andrew Olson
Published:
The big Auburn story of the day was the announcement that true freshman Bo Nix will be the team’s starting signal-caller against Oregon in Week 1. On Tuesday, Gus Malzahn also had some news on a few key members of Nix’s supporting cast.
Returning lettermen Will Hastings and Eli Stove had both been limited coming off of ACL injuries. Hastings was dealing with re-tearing his ACL back in October. Stove, who also tore his ACL in the spring of 2018, was back at full contact in this year’s spring game but had tweaked his knee earlier in camp. Now, however, with the Tigers getting ready for the Ducks, both wideouts are back in action.
“That’s very important, and we’ve tried to be smart with both of those guys,” Malzahn told reporters. “Both of them practiced today, starting to get in rhythm with Bo (Nix). Now that we’re in gameplan mode, they’re full-go and ready to go.”
One key wideout, however, is still uncertain for the Oregon game. Speedster Anthony Schwartz had surgery earlier this month to repair a broken bone in his hand.
“I’m hoping that early next week, I’ll be able to tell you,” Malzahn said regarding the status of Schwartz. “Like I said, we’re hopeful that he’ll have a chance to play the first game — but I won’t know that until the first of next week. As soon as we find out, I’ll definitely let you know.”
Schwartz is the team’s second-leading returning receiver in receiving yards (22 catches, 357 yards) behind Seth Williams (26 catches, 534 yards). Schwartz also logged 27 rushes for 211 yards last season as a freshman.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
