After undergoing surgery to repair damage to his thumb, Auburn has been without its defensive and team leader K.J. Britt.

On Saturday, Britt returned to the sidelines to help lead his team, even if he couldn’t play.

In warmups, Britt was acting like a second linebacker coach and was helping Travis Williams command the troops.

In the game, Britt was hyping up his teammates on the sideline and doing what he could to bring energy.

After all, Britt is the team's “energizer bunny.”

“K.J.'s one of our team leaders, and just to have him back is a blessing for us. In the locker room, in the hotel, on the way here, he's just that energizer bunny for us, just keeping us pumped,” linebacker Owen Pappoe said after the game. “If you look around on the field, he just calms us down, you know? It was really good to have him back on the field with us.”

At the beginning of his senior season, Britt was named to the Bednarik Award watch list, Butkus Award watch list and named to the first team All-SEC, to name a few accolades.

He was also named a team captain.

Britt started the season strong with 11 tackles in Auburn’s win over Kentucky.

Against Georgia, while fighting through an injury, Britt had 12 tackles.

Now, making his return to the sideline, even with Bo Nix, Shaun Shivers and Big Kat Bryant active, Auburn opted to have Britt be the team’s representative at the coin toss.

“He does a great job of leading us and being a positive influence of us on the sideline,” Nix said. “K.J., his presence was felt, and it was Coach Malzahn’s decision to bring him and put him out there for the coin toss.”

Auburn will still be without Britt on the field for awhile, but just his presence on the sideline was big for the Tigers on Saturday.

“Last week he'd just had surgery and his hand was still kind of throbbing or he would have went with us last week. But he's our team leader, and his presence is really special,” Malzahn said. “He's our team leader, not just offense, defense, special teams. But his presence was really big today.”

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