AUBURN — Scott and Kim Hastings swelled up at the sound.

Will Hastings likely would have too, if not for two Alabama State defenders colliding into him while wearing his fresh knee brace. Will's father, Scott, concedes the Hastings are a close, emotional family. Never expecting the 5-foot-10, 166-pound athlete — more known as a soccer player or kicker — to be an SEC wide receiver, it's easy to react that way to electric long plays and touchdown receptions.

For different reasons, the 9:53 mark in the second quarter against Alabama State had a particularly chilling effect.

"I joked with Jarrett the other day when I saw him, I said, 'Man, you've got to put it on your resume people even applaud you for incomplete passes,'" Scott said of the ensuing moment.

Lined up in the slot for the first time in 2018, Hastings ran a downfield route Auburn fans became familiar with in 2017. Jarrett Stidham heaved it in his direction. With two Alabama State defensive backs in position, this one never had a chance. It fell predictably incomplete.

Yet the Jordan-Hare crowd gave one of its loudest cheers of the night when it realized No. 33 was the intended target.

The Auburn faithful recognized the feat. Hastings returned to the field with remarkably rare recovery speed. And even with an incomplete pass, they wanted to express their gratitude.

"You know, as a parent, and I hope you get to go through this. I never thought he'd play football, much less SEC football. You swell up. It's just such an emotional thing that these people care about this kid that much," Scott said. "You just think to yourself, 'Wow.' He's given everything he's got and people know it. As a parent, you just swell up. It's tough to talk about. I get emotional about. That reaction was as strong as any touchdown or any play he's ever made."

Part of that Jordan-Hare reaction: It seemed impossible.

Hastings had torn his ACL only six months earlier, slightly less to be exact. On a March 24 spring practice, it happened on a contact play. He joined fellow wide receiver Eli Stove with the likely reality his 2018 season was no longer.

Sure, there had been be rare cases of NFL freaks of nature — you know, the likes of Adrian Peterson — but six-month recovery times just don't seem possible. Then again, if you're self-driven enough to use Peterson as a goal-setting standard, anything is.

"I asked who was the fastest person to come back and they said, ‘Adrian Peterson. He did in four and a half, five months.’ I said, ‘Alright, I’m not like Adrian Peterson, but I’ll try to do it in five and a half,’" Hastings said. "That was my goal from Day 1, and you can ask all the treatment guys downstairs, that that was my goal."

Those treatment guys, as Hastings relays it, gave him a yeah-I-don't-know-about-that response. Scott's message was: OK, let's see if you can do it. But regardless of Hastings' own goals, they all found comfort in the supreme medical oversight he was about to receive.

A big part of Hastings' quick recovery — as is the case for countless successful athletes — was Dr. James Andrews.

Andrews performed a newer stem cell-based surgery with faster return rates on both Hastings and Stove. The whole medical staff including Andrews and head athletic trainer Robbie Stewart ease the process for Hastings and his family. Andrews called Scott throughout the process as he dealt with his own outpatient procedure the Monday before Hastings' Tuesday ACL surgery.

It kept Hastings on track toward his expedited goal.

"They pretty much remake your ACL, wrap it in a cocoon-like structure, and inject your own stem cells, blood cells in it, and it’s supposed to vamp the process by about three or four or five months," Hastings said. "That’s what I was told. To me, it seems like it’s true, because I know a lot of guys take about eight to nine months and we, like I said, we were running full-speed routes about four and a half. It’s been pretty crazy."

The process has been tough.

To stick to his plan, Hastings had 4:30 a.m. wakeup calls to be in rehab by 5 a.m. It was early enough to get the necessary work in before his 9-to-2 class schedule. After that, back to the rehabilitation grind. It was a full-day job of rehab, class, rehab, repeat.

It paid off.

"I felt pretty good. I told Robbie coming off the field, ‘You know, I can finally see all my hard work paying off.’ A lot of people say that, and they don’t really mean it. But at the moment, I just remember jogging off the field smiling," Hastings said. "I don’t even care if I caught the ball. I don’t care if I did anything. I was just happy to be back out there, because I promised myself that I would be back in five and a half months, and I was able to do that."

Since his return, Hastings has served in a limited role, playing. He didn't want to put a percentage on his health, but called himself "pretty close" to normal. Hastings played two snaps against Alabama State and six against LSU. The plan is to continuing easing him in throughout his senior season.

When asked about it Tuesday, Hastings said he has considered the possibility of redshirting. He didn't rule it out. This is his last season of eligibility, and he doesn't necessarily want to spend half of it less than 100 percent and unable to play to his full potential for his coaches and teammates.

With the new four-game rule, there are still two games left to see where he's at physically. The one coming up is huge in the Hastings household, lined with lifelong Arkansas Razorback blood. It will also a be a great test to see if the current moments in Hastings' senior season will actually be his last.

"To operate the way he operates, he's got to be at 100 percent. I don't think there's any margin for error. I don't think he's a kid who can operate at even 99.5. I think he knows that. I think it dawned on him that if isn't 100 percent, he might be a liability. I think the whole redshirt thing is starting to creep into his head," Scott said. "If he thinks he can get to 100 percent, and I think he can, then I think he'll not worry about it. He's a pleaser, No. 1. He plays to make everybody happy. He wants to please his teammates."