Auburn football: John Samuel Shenker on Ole Miss sideline argument

For one of the first times so far in the 2022 season, the Auburn football offense showed spirit and fight in their game against the Ole Miss Rebels. Robby Ashford was still tabbed as the starting quarterback, but TJ Finley was ready to go on the sidelines after recovering from his shoulder injury.

After letting the Rebs run the score up 14-0, Ashford was benched and Finley was thrown into the game. Cameras were trained on the redshirt freshman quarterback as he appeared to learn the news that Finley would be going in, and fans watched as he slammed the phone down in frustration.

However, things obviously didn’t pan out with Finley back in control of the offense, and soon Ashford led Auburn football down the field and into the endzone. Normally this would call for celebration on the sidelines, but instead viewers watched as Ashford and running back Tank Bigsby appeared to get into a heated argument.

However, Auburn football senior tight end John Samuel Shenker cleared up the situation on the Locked on Auburn podcast, per SI.com:

"“It wasn’t a huge deal. It was just miscommunication,” Shenker said. “We were excited, we had just scored. We’re trying to get back into the ball game. So guys came over there excited and then some guys were just talking about staying focused, and I think it got misconstrued by what some of us meant by that. Tempers were high, we were really locked in and focused… I just think it got a little blown out of proportion, which that happens on TV and things like that. But no, nothing came of it. It was all good afterward.”"

Shenker went on to explain that it came down to Robby Ashford’s competitive spirit, and as he grows and gets more experience under his belt he’ll learn to control his emotions when there are cameras documenting every moment. All in all, two competitors got into a tiff during a high-stakes game, and at the end of the day they are still strong teammates.