AUBURN | A total of 12 Auburn players have entered the transfer portal and another three are opting out of the Music City Bowl as they prepare for the draft.

That’s going to make Auburn a little thin at several positions including cornerback, defensive line and wide receiver when they line up against Maryland Dec. 30.

“I just told these young guys, they’re going to get thrown in there,” said AU coach Hugh Freeze, before the Tigers hold their first bowl practice Saturday. “It will be good to see how they prepare for a game and then go play a very talented football team.”

The Tigers will be without cornerbacks D.J. James and Nehemiah Pritchett, and defensive lineman Marcus Harris for the bowl game. All three are preparing for the 2024 NFL Draft, which will be held April 25-27 in Detroit.

Auburn’s portal losses hit the wide receiver room the hardest with Ja’varrius Johnson, Malcolm Johnson Jr., Omari Kelly and Jyaire Shorter all moving on. AU also lost three young defensive linemen in Enyce Sledge, Stephen Johnson and Wilky Denaud.

True freshman Kayin Lee, who started the first three games of the season at cornerback, will compete with sophomore JD Rhym and true freshmen Colton Hood and Tyler Scott for the two starting spots at corner.

Freeze said another true freshman, JC Hart, will also get extended reps in bowl practice.

“All of them are going to get some reps. But I would think those four would probably get most of the reps in the bowl practices,” said Freeze.

On the defensive line, true freshman Darron Reed Jr. and junior Quientrail Jamison-Travis will have to take on bigger roles in the playing rotation.

“It’s next man up,” said Freeze. “We’ve got to get some of these young guys in there. Some DJ Reeds, some Bobbys, throw them in there and see how they do.”

On offense Freeze plans to use more 12 personnel, which includes two tight ends, in order to take the pressure off a receiving corps that has just six scholarship players and a seventh in Kassidy Woods, that earned a scholarship after initially transferring to AU as a walk-on.

“We have to be careful how we practice, our legs could get tired because we are fairly thin there,” said Freeze. “You might even see a Kassidy jump out there some and that would be very gratifying for me to see some of those guys get those opportunities.

“But we'll manage the prep on them for sure, but I do expect them to get better. That's what these practices are for.”

Auburn will hold bowl practices through Friday before breaking for Christmas. The team will resume bowl preparations in Nashville Dec. 27.