Auburn loses starting center with ACL injury

AUBURN | A struggling Auburn offense will be without one of its best players for the remainder of the season.

Auburn starting center Connor Lew suffered a torn ACL in his knee against Missouri, a source confirms to AuburnSports.com. The junior, who was named third-team preseason All-SEC, has started 24 career games for the Tigers. He was replaced by true freshman Kail Ellis against Mizzou and the true freshman, who graduated from high school early, is expected to be AU’s starter for the remainder of the seson.

“We got banged up tonight, for sure,” AU coach Hugh Freeze said after the game. “And obviously, when you lose a guy like Connor battles for you against a really talented defense, it’s a challenge. I really don’t know how Kail performed. Obviously, I think he’s going to be a really good football player. But, you know, you know, that was a huge loss to lose the leader of your O-line. He makes all protection calls and all the calls up there, run game, pass game. So that was a tough loss, for sure.”

Auburn, 3-4 overall and 0-4 in the SEC, plays at Arkansas Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 11:45 a.m. CT on SEC Network.