AU FOOTBALL: Etheridge out for year, expected to recover

Safety Zac Etheridge’s season is over, but his future in football wasn’t what Auburn’s players and coaches were focused on Sunday.

“I don’t know where that goes,” coach Gene Chizik said Sunday. “We’re talking about full recovery as a person.”

Chizik said Etheridge is likely out for the season — a rare timetable provided from the coach, who, when it comes to players’ injuries, is typically tight-lipped.

“In just talking with the doctors it appears he is out for the season,” Chizik said. “That being said we’re very hopeful for a full recovery just talking with our medical people.“

Chizik said he didn’t feel comfortable going into any further details about Etheridge’s status. A photo on Etheridge’s Facebook profile page shows him tilted upward in a hospital bed with a large neck brace, smiling with two family members.

“You just pray and hope,” defensive coordinator Ted Roof said. “There are a lot of things in his life right now that are more important than football.”

Attempting to make a hit on Ole Miss’ Rodney Scott in the first quarter of Saturday’s game, Etheridge went helmet-first into Antonio Coleman’s right shoulder pad. The collision jarred Etheridge’s neck and rendered him motionless on top of Scott, who did not move throughout the entire ordeal.

“It was one of the most amazing things I’ve seen,” Chizik said. “It was Rodney Scott and I’ve got to give that young man a lot of credit. I don’t know how he knew but he just knew he couldn’t move and he sat as still as the night laying right underneath him.

“It was one of the most phenomenal things I’ve witnessed in doing this.”

Etheridge gave the crowd a thumbs up on his way out toward the South tunnel, providing a slight sense of relief that his injury wasn’t the absolute worst-case scenario.

“You hate to see that,” Roof said. “At the same time you just hope and pray that things work out and gains full whatever.”

Chizik said the team is in the process of planning to visit Etheridge, whose void in Auburn’s depth-ridden defensive backfield will be tough to replace.

Mike Slade filled in for Etheridge in a pinch Saturday, picking up three tackles and not making any noticeable gaffes. He played “adequately,” Chizik said, adding that the Tigers will have to “get creative to make sure that we put the best guys out there that gives us the best chance to win,” Saturday against Furman.

“We’ve got to work through some things in the next couple of days to figure out what that is,” Chizik said. “It might be Mike. It might be a guy moving over. We don’t know. We’ll explore all the options.”

His and Roof’s options are slim.

Mike McNeil and Aairon Savage, who have each yet to play this season, are all but ruled out for the season, Drew Cole hasn’t played since Week 2, and two other players with safety experience, Marcus Jemison and Christian Thompson, were kicked off the team in July.

“It happens to every football team,” Roof said. “It’s an area where we’ve now lost both our starters … it just becomes more of a critical issue.”

Redshirt freshman T’Sharvan Bell, a former high school quarterback who was a cornerback until August, is another option. He’s seen action in every game this season, playing largely on special teams and some passing downs, picking up six tackles.

“There’s some uncertainty there as far as the experience factor,” Roof said. “As you make your stretch run, you’d rather be putting in experienced (players), but that’s where we are.”

Cornerback Demond Washington, who has seen his playing time increase over the past few games, is another possibility to slide over and help.

Etheridge was fourth on the team in tackles, but his leadership, Chizik and Roof said, is where he’ll be impossible to replace.

“He’s a team leader and he’s loved by all the guys on this football team and that’s because he loves football and he loves Auburn,” Chizik said. “Everybody on our team knows it. Without question, he’s one of the leaders of our football team. It’s going to be tough.”

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