Auburn needs help at receiver — and fast.

With SEC play quickly approaching, Auburn is weary about the statuses of its two biggest playmakers out wide. Big-bodied target Seth Williams, who suffered a shoulder injury and was seen in a sling in the second half against Tulane last week, has been ruled out for at least Auburn’s Week 3 matchup with Kent State. And sophomore Anthony Schwartz has been targeted just once and has no touches through two weeks as he continues to recover from hand surgery, sporting a soft cast on his left hand.

Starters Eli Stove and Will Hastings — whom Bo Nix has targeted a combined 30 times this year — are fully recovered from their respective knee injuries and played exceptionally last week. But past their production, the remaining healthy receivers have just five catches on the season. Auburn is strapping for someone to step up in Kodi Burns’ receiving corps.

The Tigers believe redshirt sophomore Matthew Hill could be the answer.

“Matt (Hill) has done some great things since the moment he stepped on campus,” said receiver Sal Cannella, who rounds up the Tigers’ usual starting lineup with Stove, Hastings and Williams. “With him, it’s just a matter of keep being confident, keep believing in himself. He shows stuff every day in practice that we can trust him. At this point, it’s just a matter of him going out there and just playing ball and just doing what he’s been doing his whole entire life."

Gus Malzahn crowned Hill, a former 4-star athlete, the team’s special teams player of the week for Week 2 after he impressed in “all phases” of the game in the win over the Green Wave. Hill also notched his first career receptions with a pair of catches for 11 yards.

“I think there's a maturity part that he is starting to take that next step,” Malzahn said of Hill. “That was very encouraging. He did make some plays when he was in there on offense. He played with physicality, blocking, when he was on offense, too. Overall, he probably had his best game since he's been here."

In Auburn’s 2018 class, Hill ranked higher than both Schwartz and Williams as an overall prospect. But he redshirted his true freshman year, appearing in just four outings.

“I knew at the end of the day my time was going to come,” Hill said of redshirting his first season after Auburn’s 2019 spring game. “Once I realized it’s just a time thing, I just sat down and was patient and just got better.”

That offseason work showed in the A-Day spring game, where Hill caught five balls for 128 yards and two touchdowns.

“He's got the ability to make some plays. You saw that in the spring game,” Malzahn said. “... I think he's getting more comfortable. He could have a bigger role each week.”

Hill is a small slot or a flanker, Malzahn said. Those roles are already occupied — in a starting capacity, at least — by Hastings and Stove, respectively. But no matter where the Tigers line Hill up, or if he even starts, he’ll be relied on to help Nix and the offense improve before their SEC opener with Texas A&M in Week 4.

In fact, Malzahn is looking for the entirety of the position group to step up.

“All receivers, all hands on deck the rest of the season,” he said.

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