AUBURN | When Kilian Zierer’s time finally came, he took full advantage.

After appearing in just two games as a backup and totaling 32 snaps midway through his second season at Auburn, Zierer earned a start against Arkansas at left tackle.

“I thought he did really well,” said Auburn coach Bryan Harsin. “He was the offensive lineman of the game, and that’s a pretty good start for him.”

Zierer didn’t allow a sack or even a quarterback hurry in 63 snaps, but was flagged for a false start penalty.

Senior Austin Troxell started the first six games of the season at left tackle, but an injury limited him in practice before the game against the Razorbacks.

Troxell travelled to Fayetteville and went through warmups with the second team but didn’t play.

“Troxell was a little bit banged up, so we had to give him some time to just start feeling better, and so Kilian was getting more reps,” Harsin explained. “We saw that Kilian was doing a pretty good job in practice. We felt like that would be the right decision going into the game.

“And again, Troxell’s good. He’s been a very good player for us this year. He’s tough. That’s what I love about him. But Kilian got his chance and he made it count. He played well.”

Zierer, a junior, signed with Auburn out College of the Canyons in the 2020 class but didn’t play last fall while recovering from knee surgery. The Munich, Germany native is relatively new to American football so it’s been a process learning and developing his skills while also returning from an injury.

With two weeks to prepare for the next game, Harsin and AU’s staff will have a decision to make at left tackle between Zierer and Troxell. Regardless, Harsin is clearly high on Zierer’s future.

“I think Kilian is going to be a guy, as he continues to develop, playing is going to help him but also once, you even look ahead, and you get into an offseason and another cycle in our strength program and things like that are going to make him even more physical and I think a better player,” Harsin said. “I was very happy with how he progressed through the week of practice and obviously his performance in the game, which says a lot about his focus, being a backup up to that point, but not being so far behind that you have no chance to really get in the game and be effective. That’s kind of his mentality, I think, and it showed up in the game.

“So we’ve got another guy. We’ve got depth, which is always good. A little competition. And we’ll see how this week and the next week kind of play out as far as who’s going to be in that position come gametime.”

No. 19 Auburn returns to action Oct. 30 against No. 12 Ole Miss at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT on ESPN.