AUBURN — The heat of the preseason has turned up, so much so that Auburn football kept it indoors Thursday, Aug. 13, away from near-90-degree temperatures for its eighth practice of fall camp.
Here's a look at what we saw from nearly 30 minutes of viewing inside the Woltosz Football Performance Center, including an update on the latest health items and takeaways from Auburn's 11-man defensive rotations.
Injury updates and observations
- Auburn's latest non-participants didn't see much change Thursday. An'Quon Fegans, Cory Williams and Nate Johnson were sidelined, and Joseph Phillips joined them.
- Staton Ramil worked in Auburn's training room for much of the day's viewing window, away from the offensive line.
- After missing Auburn's previous practice, safety Kaleb Harris was suited out and participating Thursday.
- Malik Autry's clubbed right hand was unwrapped Thursday for the first time this fall.
Notes, observations from Auburn football's defensive rotations
- Auburn's first rotation appeared generally as expected, with the following players involved:
- DL: Jared Smith, Dallas Walker IV, Darrion Smith, Da'Shawn Womack
- LB: Elijah Melendez, Xavier Atkins
- CB: Andre Jordan Jr., Rayshawn Pleasant
- S: Eric Winters, Sylvester Smith-Reed, Champ Anthony
- Thursday's 4-2-5 set-up wasn't vastly different from Auburn's first rotation of its 11-on-11 period the day prior, where Walter Mathis Jr. was in Smith's place on the defensive line. The secondary also had some alterations, with Gavin Jenkins and Blake Woodby starting at corner for that rotation, and Fred Gaskin III was in place of Winters.
- Each of those players was eventually involved in ensuing rotations, with Gaskin, Jenkins and Woodby taking the field in the second rotation. Mathis was out there for the third.
- Other defenders involved in Auburn's Thursday rotations: Bryce Deas, De'Marcus Riddick, Michael Matthews-Canty and Wayne Henry. Henry's involvement was been sparing throughout the preseason, but position coach Tim Banks said of him earlier this week: "He's been exactly what we were hoping he'd be."
- Womack, while listed as an edge rusher, primarily worked with Auburn's box linebackers for much of Thursday's viewing window. It hasn't been uncommon to see Auburn's defenders cross-training the past few weeks, but Womack's latest work was the first we'd seen of it.
Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at acole@gannett.com or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter.To support Adam's work, please subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Who's in Auburn football defensive rotations? Fall camp practice notes