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Auburn Football Injury Report: Will Duke Williams Play in the Iron Bowl Against Alabama?

By Nicholas Ian Allen

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One of the biggest questions heading into Saturday’s clash in Tuscaloosa centers on what injured Auburn football players will be back in action against Alabama in the Iron Bowl. D’haquille Williams and Ricardo Louis both missed Saturday’s game against Samford and Star Robenson Therezie‘s action was limited after suffering a bruised shoulder in practice last week.

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“Some of our guys we wanted to be smart with and make sure they are healed up,” Auburn football coach Gus Malzahn said after the Tigers defeated the Bulldogs 31-7.

Duke Williams, the junior wide receiver, sprained his knee against Texas A&M and hasn’t seen the field since, though he was dressed out for practice last week.

UPDATE: Gus Malzahn Discusses Duke Williams’ Availability for Iron Bowl

The 6-foot-2, 220-plus pound matchup nightmare still leads the Tigers with 38 receptions, 609 receiving yards and five touchdown catches. And he’s been missed.

Without Williams, quarterback Nick Marshall has completed 22 of 41 passes (53.7%) combined against Georgia and Samford for 283 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Without his top receiver, Marshall has also been limited in the rushing game. He had 41 yards against Georgia two weeks ago but finished with minus-8 yards this week as a result of three sacks – the worst rushing performance of his Auburn football career.

“We are hoping he will be back this week,” Malzahn said of Williams. “I am not ready to make that call yet, but we are hopeful.”

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    • Louis was held out of the game as well against the FCS Bulldogs, though no official word was given as to why. He ranks fourth among Tigers receivers with 18 catches for 189 yards and has haled in two TD receptions. The junior has also contributed 179 rushing yards and a score with an 11.9-yards per carry average.

    During the game, defensive lineman DaVonte Lambert suffered an injury and did not return.

    “I don’t have any updates on DaVonte,” Malzahn said. “He got hurt on the first play, but I don’t know his status as of now.”

    Lambert has started the last nine games at defensive end and leads the Tigers with 3.5 sacks this season. If he is unable to play in the Iron Bowl, it will be a major blow to Auburn’s pass rush. Despite two sacks and several quarterback pressures against Samford, the Tigers have struggled all season to maintain consistent pressure on opposing QBs.

    Speculating, I would expect Williams and Louis to return, which should provide a huge boost to the passing game, and Therezie is also likely to make his 11th straight start. It’s too early to tell whether or not Lambert will be back, but there will be updates later in the week.

    Update:


    Next: The Five Greatest Auburn Iron Bowl Victories

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