AUBURN | Injuries have hit Auburn’s secondary pretty hard this season and they played a part in two of Texas A&M’s biggest plays last Saturday.

The Tigers had to sub in an inexperienced backup on the Aggies’ two touchdown passes early in the second half, which blew open a tight game.

“We were down to our third-team weak safety who obviously didn't get enough reps,” said AU coach Hugh Freeze. “We blew two coverages with a guy that just hasn't played a lot of snaps.

“We've got to just keep creating depth. But I thought they played a really solid game and proud of that side. And the staff.”

Texas A&M backup quarterback Max Johnson connected with Jake Johnson on a 22-yard touchdown pass and followed that up three minutes later with a 37-yard TD to Evan Stewart to turn a tight 6-3 game into a 20-3 lead midway through the third quarter.

Starting nickel Keionte Scott underwent ankle surgery last week and won’t return until later this fall. His top two backups, Donovan Kaufman and J.D. Rhym, were both slowed by injuries.

Kaufman fought through them to play 44 snaps while Rhym was limited to just nine. That left Caleb Wooden, the backup weak safety, to move to nickel.

When starting weak safety Zion Puckett had to leave the game with a shoulder injury, AU turned to junior Marquise Gilbert, who played 27 snaps against TAMU after totaling just 15 in AUs’ first three games.

“Made it really hard when Puckett went down,” said Freeze. “We were already down Keionte. Puckett I would say is the next guy back there that knows everything that's going on. He goes down and Kaufman is in and out.

“So we had to play Gilbert a lot in Puckett's place, and we're struggling with depth back there, for sure.”

Puckett told the media Monday he was feeling “pretty healthy” as the Tigers prepare for Saturday’s game against No. 1 Georgia. The senior has become a key leader on defense and is often responsible for making sure the secondary is lined up correctly.

“I think it's always pretty difficult,” said Puckett of being without so many injured players. “You're a safety and you're trying to line people up and get people in different areas and see where your eyes are at and your keys are at.

“Just moving people around, that's the most difficult part. The most difficult part is it's 80 percent mental and 20 percent physical. The mental side is where people have trouble.”

Kickoff at Jordan-Hare Stadium is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on CBS.