AUBURN | A total of 18 Auburn scholarship players have hit the portal so far. I’d be surprised if that number doesn’t eclipse 20 in the near future.

But I don’t think there’s anyone to blame or throw rocks at due to the exodus. It’s just a new era of college football.

Auburn’s losses might be above average this year due to the coaching turnover but having a dozen or so transfers every year won’t be out of the ordinary.

But for this year, those defections are already showing up in a big way this spring. Auburn is razor thin at several positions, which was pretty evident in Friday’s scrimmage.

The two backups at defensive tackle were walk-ons. Caleb Wooden was the starting safety on the first, second and third teams at times because of a lack of depth.

Auburn’s No. 2 running back was a walk-on (a pretty good one I should add) and an offensive line, which hasn’t suffered any attrition, was still beset by injuries enough to have Kam Stutts, Jalil Irvin, Tate Johnson and Alec Jackson on the first-team.

Some of the issues will be shored up once the injured players return and AU receives another influx of players when the rest of the 2022 class reports this summer.

But it’s a sign of how thin Auburn’s depth could be at certain positions this fall, and the fact that this team could certainly use some good injury luck.

It could also use more players too. Lest we forget, the transfer portal works both ways and there’s no more important priority for this staff than talent acquisition right now — in the portal and for the 2023 and 24 classes.

It’s way too early to write the script on the 2022 season. What happens over the next several months could go a long way in improving this team and taking some of the pressure off a thin depth chart.

Otherwise, well, we’ll cross that bridge if/when we come to it.

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In today’s musical journey, we go back 44 years to the day a group of fun-loving puppets almost sold their souls to the devil. On March 28, 1978, Alice Cooper appeared on the kid’s program, The Muppet Show, telling Kermit and his pals that he will make them famous and rich if they sign their souls over to him. Kermit doesn’t fall for it, Miss Piggy gives it a trial run but backs out at the end and Gonzo spends most of the episode looking for a pen to sign up. The episode includes Cooper serenading Miss Piggy, who has been transformed into a monster named Beakie, to the song You and Me. He also sings Welcome to My Nightmare, Over the Rainbow, Once a Year Day and his biggest hit song, Schools Out.

Cooper was born Vincent Damon Furnier in 1948 in Detroit, Mich., the son of an evangelist in The Church of Jesus Christ. The family moved to Phoenix, Ariz., and he made his first performance as a 16-year old in a school talent show doing Beatles parodies. Several of his friends at Cortez High School that participated in the show joined his band, which was first named Nazz and then changed to Alice Cooper in 1968. After the band broke up in 1976, Furnier legally changed his name to Alice Cooper due to legal complications over ownership of the group name. He’s considered the Godfather of Shock Rock with his use of props, gore and stage makeup. Cooper, who has been active for more than 50 years, has sold over 50 million records. He’s also appeared in more than 50 films and was a co-owner of a restaurant in Phoenix named Cooper’stown, which closed in 2017.