Bowl games are always an opportunity for younger players to receive playing time, but this year, with COVID, opt-outs and injuries, the underclassmen got even more playing time in Auburn’s Citrus Bowl loss.
Heading into the 2021 season, the interim coach for the game, Kevin Steele, knew how important that experience is.
“We're Auburn football and we're never going to make excuses for who's out there and who's not out there. It's next man up,” Steele said about players being out. “It doesn't matter if it's COVID, injury, opt-out. That's not going to -- we don't do that. It's next man up. We had some young guys go out there and do some really good things. It's going to help them for the future of this program to play in this game and play as many snaps as they did. Some of them played more snaps than they played all year long, and it's not even close. And we saw some good things out of those guys.”
One of the players who got his opportunity was freshman receiver Elijah Canion.
Canion, a 3-star recruit in the class of 2020, had yet to record a reception during his time at Auburn.
He had three of them on Friday, accumulating 80 yards, including a 57-yard touchdown that helped keep Auburn in it in the third quarter.
“You know, we were clawing and scratching to get points in the first quarter, quarter-and-a-half. We had the two field goals, so we were clawing and scratching to make something happen,” Steele said. “That big play offensively obviously put points on the board that we needed desperately, but it also energized the whole football team.”
Playing in potentially his last game at Auburn, Big Kat Bryant knows just how important that experience can be.
“Oh, it’s great, man, because I know how it was when I was a freshmen, just getting that playing time,” Bryant said. “For them to actually start, man, that’s a big thing, something they’ll probably never forget throughout their life. That’s, I mean, playing, I promise you, playing and getting actual quality playing time, that’s what builds your confidence, builds your ego, things like that moving forward because you kind of get a feel for the game, know what to expect, things like that.”
Specifically on the defensive line, Bryant has his eyes on a few young guys to play big roles next season.
“But Zykevious Walker, yeah, he had to step up and play. I think he gave us some quality minutes. Then we've got Jeremiah Wright that gave us some good minutes,” Bryant said. “So just to see them guys get their feet wet, man, I really think them two have a real good future here at Auburn. The only thing we can do is just stay in their ear and continue to motivate them — because that's what I did from the sideline.”
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