Bridges ‘going to be a player’

AUBURN | Caleb Wooden had a big spring. Craig McDonald was a key transfer.

But Cayden Bridges may end up being the man.

In the battle for the safety position opposite junior Zion Puckett, Bridges is using fall camp to make a push to be Auburn’s starter.

“You’ve got a guy like Cayden Bridges that’s coming on and he’s very talented,” said AU head coach Bryan Harsin. “Still young but he’s learning. But that guy is going to be a player for us once he gets everything figured out. So we feel good about him.”

Now, the competition is far from over and McDonald comes to Auburn with 17 career games played at Iowa State. Wooden got a lot of work with the first-team in the spring with Puckett nursing an injury and Marquise Gilbert, a junior college transfer, is also in the mix.

Regardless of whether Bridges, a redshirt freshman, wins the starting position in camp, secondary coach Zac Etheridge is expecting him to have a key role this season.

“We're counting on him to step up,” said Etheridge. “Every day he comes in and he works and he gets better. It’s a maturity level and just understanding what’s going on in the stadium when you get in front of 80,000 or 100,000 people. Been really impressed with him.”

When it comes to Bridges, McDonald, Wooden and Gilbert, not one has ever taken an SEC snap. Puckett is making sure whoever lines up next to him against Mercer Sept. 3 is as ready as possible and that includes Bridges.

“I’ve been, on and off the field, just trying to help him learn just anything with weight room, class. Just being a student of the game,” said Puckett. “Trying to help him out with that. But he’s doing pretty good so far.”

After taking off Monday, Auburn will return to practice Tuesday afternoon. The Tigers will hold their second major scrimmage of fall camp Friday afternoon at Jordan-Hare Stadium.