Two players could be added to Kevin Steele's Auburn defense by way of Gus Malzahn's offense.

It's a "possibility" that receivers Jashawn Sheffield and Matthew Hill could move to defense, Malzahn told local beat reporters on a teleconference call Friday morning. Malzahn was hoping to have spring practice to "iron out" players changing sides of the ball, so that's obviously on hold for now with COVID-19 shutting down sports across America.

"We have not made any final decisions, but those are two guys that, you know, have the flexibility to do both," Malzahn said. "We were really wanting to go into spring and be able to iron all that out. But that's two question marks still out there that we feel like both those guys could help us, you know, in a lot of different ways."

Hill, a rising redshirt sophomore, had 10 offensive touches for 55 yards as a wideout sometimes used in jet sweeps last season. A product of Snellville, Ga., in the 2018 class, Hill was recruited to play defensive back at a number of other programs before he came to Auburn as a receiver.

"I knew at the end of the day, my time was going to come," said Hill after Auburn's 2019 spring game of limited usage his true freshman season. "Once I realized it's just a time thing, I just sat down and was patient and just got better."

Sheffield, a true freshman last year, did not catch any passes at receiver but he did carry the ball twice against Samford for 30 yards. Sheffield was a 4-star prospect at receiver in Auburn's 2019 class out of Saint Simons Island, Ga.

Steele's defense must replace its two starters at cornerback — Noah Igbinoghene and Javaris Davis — along with starting safeties Jeremiah Dinson and Daniel Thomas. Rising junior nickel Christian Tutt is the lone returning starter in the secondary.

Junior Roger McCreary is viewed as the logical choice for No. 1 corner next season, while juniors Smoke Monday and Jamien Sherwood have been training behind Dinson and Thomas to be the starting safety duo for two seasons.

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