AUBURN | Auburn's tight ends haven’t been as big a part of the offense as they were made out to be in the preseason, but they’ve still been a part of some key plays including a clutch reception by John Samuel Shenker at Ole Miss last Saturday.

Facing a 3rd and 13 at the Ole Miss 33-yard line, Bo Nix was flushed out of the pocket to his left, he found Shenker at the 31-yard line and the junior rumbled to the 18-yard line for a 15-yard gain and a first down.

Tank Bigsby scored his second touchdown of the game two plays later to give the Tigers a 27-21 lead in the fourth quarter.

“In the play design we had some different options and then Bo extended the play, and John was—he saw it, just made a good play. That was really one of the plays of the game,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. “We went on and scored, I guess, two plays later. It would’ve been a long field goal that we had. That was a huge play, and John came up big. That was another play that the quarterback made a phenomenal play on his own out of, really, nothing. He was going to his left and kind of flicked it.”

Shenker has two catches for 17 yards this season, while J.J. Pegues and Luke Deal both have one catch apiece for four yards. Combined, AU’s tight ends have four catches for 25 yards through five games after catching three passes for 21 yards in 13 games a year ago.

More help and more production at the position could be coming soon. True freshman Brandon Frazier, who was a fall camp standout before an injury, is on the road to return as soon as Auburn’s game at Mississippi State Nov. 14.

“I’m hoping that he could possibly be back in the next couple weeks,” Malzahn said. “He has been out there practicing in a certain, limited, but practiced some last week. He’s a guy we were expecting that we would have an opportunity to help us this year, and I still think that could happen once we get him back.”

Auburn hosts LSU Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT on CBS.