Will Hastings 'chomping at the bit' to return
HOOVER | Receiver Will Hastings is Auburn's 13-year-old secret weapon.
Please, allow Gus Malzahn to explain.
"Will, last year, not having him, it really hurt us," Malzahn said of Hastings at the 2019 SEC Media Days on Thursday. "Will can get open versus anybody covering him in a man-to-man situation. He looks like he's about 13 years old, too. If you ever see him, you wouldn't think he's an SEC player."
A 5-foot-10 senior, Hastings racked up over 2,000 receiving yards in his final year at Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, Ark., but he arrived on the Plains as a walk-on placekicker whom Malzahn envisioned as an onside specialist.
He attempted a pair of those types of kicks in the 2015 season. Neither went according to plan, so the walk-on was benched.
"I fired him," Malzahn joked.
But in the following spring camp, the Tigers needed to shore up depth in the receivers room. Malzahn plugged in the small but nimble Hastings, whose impact was felt immediately.
"We put him in there, and it took about a week to figure out he's pretty good," Malzahn said of Hastings. "Now he's ended up being one of our best players. I think he'll have a chance to play in the NFL."
Fast forward to two springs later, and Hastings is sidelined with an ACL tear suffered in practice. This came after his 2017 campaign in which the starting slot receiver averaged over 20 yards a reception to go with a quartet of touchdowns and 525 yards — good for third on the team. Receiver Eli Stove went down with a similar injury, as well.
Hastings became a reliable target — a bolt of "white lightning" that sliced through the middle of secondaries and routinely became open down the field behind the defense. That's something the Auburn offense could use in 2019 as it will start a freshman quarterback for the first time since 2001 (Jason Campbell).
“Yeah, you know, I will say this about last year: Eli Stove and Will Hastings’ (injuries) was really a big blow to us from the standpoint that those guys were proven big-play guys to get open versus man," Malzahn said. "That was a big blow to our offense last year. To have those guys back with their experience gives us a real shot in the arm."
Hastings tried to return to the gridiron last fall after a remarkably quick recovery before he was injured again. He underwent additional knee surgery in October 2018 and received a redshirt for his senior year.
But Hastings kept his head high through the rest of the season and spring ball. He was cleared for contact in April following Auburn's A-Day spring game. Malzahn said in Hoover that Tigers strength and conditioning coach Ryan Russell recently proclaimed that Hastings is back to "100 percent."
"Yeah, he's chomping at the bit, I'll tell you that," Malzahn said of Hastings's return from injury this summer.
Malzahn's silver lining is that young receivers Anthony Schwartz and Seth Williams were gifted more playing time last year as Auburn dealt with the injuries to Hastings and Stove. And while both of those rising sophomores undoubtedly are crucial for the future of Auburn's offense, the Tigers know a veteran voice returning to the sidelines and the field could push the group to the next level.
"Anthony Schwartz, Seth Williams, those guys have real quality game experience," Malzahn said. "You have (Hastings and Stove) in, and it just gives us more depth. When we’ve been at our best, we’ve had receivers that really understood our offense to be able to make adjustments."
