Auburn football: Houston CB Marcus Jones opts out of Birmingham Bowl

Both Houston and Auburn football will be without their top cornerbacks heading into their bowl game matchup next week. The teams will face off in the Ticketsmarter Birmingham Bowl on December 28, but without several key players.

Auburn football will be missing starting center, Nick Brahms, due to recent knee surgery, in addition to offensive lineman Brodarious Hamm who has declared for the NFL Draft. Linebacker Zakoby McClain opted out, in addition to cornerback Roger McCreary.

McCreary, who was named first-team All America earlier this year, was selected to first-team All-SEC and is a projected first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. Now, both Houston and Auburn football will be playing without their All-American cornerbacks.

Marcus Jones, a junior cornerback, announced today that he would officially be opting out of Houston’s bowl game in order to prepare for the 2022 NFL Draft. The Enterprise, AL native formerly played under Auburn cornerbacks coach Zac Etheridge.

Jones became the first Houston player since 2018 to earn consensus All-American honors and was named AAC Special Teams Player of the Year in addition to winning the 2021 Paul Hornung award.

Although Jones’ decision to opt-out of the bowl game only benefits the Tigers, Bryan Harsin’s team still has a big challenge ahead of them in Houston, who finished their season second in the AAC to CFP contender Cincinnatti. The Tigers will be working with a different style of offense under the complete control of Harsin and will roll with new QB1 TJ Finley in the wake of Bo Nix’s transfer to Oregon, but Harsin remains confident, per AL.com:

"“We’re going to have some guys that aren’t playing,” Harsin said. “We’ve had some guys that declared. We’ve had some guys that transferred out. So yeah, we’ll have a few spots where we’re not as deep, but for the most part the guys that are playing the game, they’ve played. You know, we’ve had guys that have played. So, there’s not really any areas where guys — we’re having to fill their position with somebody that hasn’t played through the season.”"

Despite losing a few key pieces on the roster, the bowl game will be a good chance to weigh remaining talent and see what freshman quarterback Dee Davis has to offer.