Brandon Council out for season

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Auburn starting right guard Brandon Council will be out for the season after suffering a "severe knee injury" in the Tigers' 35-28 win over Ole Miss, Gus Malzahn told reporters Sunday evening. Council, an offseason grad transfer addition from Akron, has started every game on Auburn's offensive line in 2020.

Council started at right guard for the Tigers' first two games and most recent two but has also bounced some to left guard while the line has rotated. In Game 3 against Arkansas, Council started at right tackle while Brodarious Hamm was being worked back from an injury.

Since the 2020 season doesn't count as a year off players' eligibility across college football, Malzahn said he thinks there "could be a good chance" Council returns to Auburn in 2021 since this year doesn't count toward eligibility, but he hasn't discussed it thoroughly with the grad transfer lineman yet.

Redshirt freshman Keiondre Jones started the Arkansas game at right guard and has seen his fair share of in-game reps at the position when Council moved to left guard, and Jones also finished the Ole Miss game after Council went down. Malzahn said Jones will fill in for Council, and Austin Troxell has a chance to compete for the opening, too.

A 6-foot-4, 325-pound native of Tar Heel, North Carolina, Council was a three-year starter at Akron from 2017-19, notching a start at four of five spots on Akron's offensive line. He committed to Auburn on April 9.

"Of all the schools, I felt like [Auburn] was the best fit," Council told Auburn Undercover when he committed. "They needed experience and I give them that. I'm a guy that can come solidify the offensive line."

Council had been one of the Tigers' more consistent players along the front line, regardless of where he was being asked to play in a given game. Before the Ole Miss game, Auburn had been feeling better about the continuity on its offensive line, since the group was able to go through two straight weeks of practice with the same starting five for the first time all season or preseason, Malzahn said. Auburn dealt with COVID-19 issues within the position group in fall camp, and later had a few nagging injuries in the early part of the season.

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