Auburn will be without wide receiver Jeremiah Koger when it takes on No.12 Ole Miss today. The third-leading receiver on the team was downgraded from questionable to out on Friday night's SEC availability report.
Koger, one of the 11 South Florida transfers who followed head coach Alex Golesh to Auburn, has 14 catches for 230 yards. His large six-foot-three frame allows him to help create key blocks for the Tigers' run game.
Not having him today is going to hurt, but there are players on the roster who can help fill the void.
Let's go over who can fill that void for today's game.
Freshman WR Brian Williams Jr.
Brian Williams Jr. had a lot of eyes on him during the offseason because of how big he was and just how fast he was. Similar to Koger in size and stature, he would be an excellent plug-and-play option against an Ole Miss run defense that is one of the worst in the SEC.
If they use him the same way they used Koger, then you should see the same production out of Williams Jr. today. The key takeaway that makes him better than Koger in this game is that there is no tape of Brian out there for Ole Miss to exploit. They don't know that Williams Jr. can be deadly with the ball in his hands, and that he has really good breakaway speed for an underclassman.
I would call him a bigger version of the next player that fills the void for Koger.
Freshman WR DeShawn Spencer
DeShawn Spencer is a stellar freshman wideout from Saraland High School. His only disadvantage is that he joined Auburn in a year when he knew he was going to be the fourth fiddle on an aggressive Auburn offense.
Already showing flashes of how good he can be in the offseason, he has 10 catches for 90 yards and two touchdowns. Although Spencer may not be the size of Brian Williams Jr., he does play just as big as him. It is something you only understand when you watch him play on the field. Spencer has the ability to become just as big a star as Alabama's Ryan Coleman-Williams, who called Spencer a workhorse at SEC Media Days.
How Spencer helps win in the absence of Koger is his lightning-fast speed and his ability to get open. Once he has the ball in his hands, it is another story, as he will use that speed to juke away defenders and move upfield. Spencer had flashes of that talent versus LSU, where he caught four passes for 41 yards; the longest was an 18-yard reception.
That was a small sample size of what he could do against the best defense in the SEC. Now, imagine what DeShawn can do against one of the worst defenses in the SEC.
Sophomore TE Jonathan Echols
Koger is going to be missed in Auburn's game against Ole Miss, but the players behind him are the building blocks of the future. I had said earlier this year that Jonathan Echols would be a player more important to Auburn's offense than you think, and now it is showing up.
Echols' six-foot-six frame is a giant untapped weapon that hasn't been used this year. He is as fast as the other wideouts, plus he can block and catch the ball well. The only reason why he isn't starting is that Arlis Boardingham and Jake Johnson are on the team. This would be his time to shine and make himself a known weapon that OC Joel Gordon can rely on going into the latter half of the season.
Hopefully, the sudden loss of Koger isn't too heavy a loss. I still think Auburn can win today's game, but it still fully depends on the three things I expected going into Oxford. If those things happen, they can shock the world and continue on their mission to be 9-3 and a potential dark horse for the CFP.
Add us as a preferred source on Google