Auburn defensive lineman ruled out for rest of season

Ahead of Auburn’s matchup with Ole Miss, head coach Bryan Harsin revealed that second-year defensive lineman Jeremiah Wright will be shut down for the season, after going down with an ACL injury in the spring.

“I wish he could,” Harsin said. “I am glad you asked about him. He is running now. He had shoulder pads on the other day so he is out there doing things. Will he be ready to play this year? No, he is not going to be ready to play this year and even that injury, you’re coming off an ACL, you don’t want to reinjure an ACL, you want to make sure that guys are completely healthy, fully at that full strength, full capacity where they can make all the moves and things they have to do to play at their level, but it is good to see him out there. He is running with the guys. He has got pads on. He has got help. He has got a helmet on at times so it’s just good to have him out there.”

Harsin and the Tigers are playing safe with the second-year freshman, as this year will serve as his redshirt season. Coming out of high school, Jeremiah Wright was an offensive lineman but converted to the defensive side of the ball during preseason camp.

As a freshman, Wright appeared in six games, recording three tackles in the Citrus Bowl against Northwestern. Prior to his injury in the spring, Jeremiah Wright was seen as a breakout player prior to going down with a left ACL injury in late March.

Auburn is currently 5-2 in Bryan Harsin’s first year as the Tigers’ head coach. The Tigers have a tough remaining schedule on the season. Over the next two weeks, Auburn hosts Ole Miss before traveling to take on Texas A&M. Then, Auburn hosts Mississippi State before heading to South Carolina in late November. The Tigers will finish the regular season with a home date with Alabama.

The Tigers hope to see the return of star linebacker Owen Pappoe against Ole Miss on Saturday. Pappoe, a junior for the Tigers, sustained a lower-body injury in Auburn’s Week 3 loss to Penn State and has been out ever since. In two and a half games, he had 15 tackles (eight solo).

Without the Lawrenceville, Georgia, native, Auburn has still gone 3-1 over the last four weeks. The only game the Tigers have dropped was to Georgia, the current No. 1 team in the nation.

Owen Pappoe has been a defensive leader at Auburn for three seasons and earned the title of team captain ahead of this year. Last season was his most productive in his three-year career with 93 tackles (56 solo), four sacks and an interception.