Jermaine Whitehead addresses suspension

AUBURN -- Jermaine Whitehead addressed his four-game suspension, reinstatement and return to defense for the first time following Auburn's 31-7 win over Samford.

The senior field safety was suspended prior to Auburn's trip to Kansas State due to a reported verbal altercation with an assistant coach.

Auburn coach Gus Malzahn and defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson said Whitehead "did everything" asked of him in order to return.

"It's between me and coach what happened. I'm just moving forward," said Whitehead, who would not confirm or deny the reported altercation. "I don't really know nothing about that. I know the things that I did, me and coach know, people on the team have a idea and I paid for whatever was done."

Whitehead was leading Auburn with two interceptions and among the team leaders in tackles (12) at the time of his suspension. He has 12 tackles and an interception, which came against Texas A&M, in three games back on defense.

Malzahn said it was a "personal decision" to allow Whitehead back at first in a special teams-only role against South Carolina and Ole Miss. Whitehead said he didn't feel as though his future with the program was ever in jeopardy.

"I can't really say that because me and coach had an agreement," Whitehead said. "I felt like if I did everything he asked me to do, I felt like I had a good shot of coming back. I never put that in my mind."

Although Auburn went 5-1 without Whitehead on defense, there were problems with "communication" in the secondary blamed in large part to inexperience.

"It hurt me that I hurt my team," Whitehead said. "I put them in a position to play in a lot of big games without me."

Whitehead is still on the front line of kickoff returns, a position where he was targeted by South Carolina in his first game back, and the Gamecocks recovered the kick.

"I hasn't seen one of those in a while," Whitehead said. "They came right at me, It was a great kick, one I wish I could go back and redo."

Malzahn said the other seniors on the team had a large say in Whitehead being allowed to return to the team. The Greenwood, Mississippi native was appreciate of their support over the last two months.

"It really a credit to my teammates," he said. "They did a lot to console me and make sure I wasn't feeling down. They welcomed me back with open arms and were more glad to have me probably than I was to be out there."