Stanton Truitt 'too good' an athlete to redshirt

AUBURN --Stanton Truitt made his debut against Louisiana Tech, but it would have been even sooner if not for a previously undisclosed hamstring injury.

The true freshman wide receiver had one reception for 12 yards late in the fourth quarter of Auburn's 45-17 win on Saturday.

"Stanton is a guy that he's had a little hamstring issue or he would have played a more up to this point," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said during the Tiger Talk radio program on Monday. "He is just too good of an athlete to not help us on special teams and at the wide receiver position to give us some depth the rest of the year."

The 5-foot-9 175-pound Truitt was one of five early enrollees from Auburn's last signing class. He has not been available for interviews in nine months on campus.

Truitt, who played quarterback at Monroe Area High School in Georgia, is expected to contribute mostly on special teams.

"Stanton's explosive and it's kinda been a back-and-forth thing for us," offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee said in regard to the decision not to redshirt Truitt. "I think it came to the point when (special teams coach Scott) Fountain said he could help us on special teams, that helped. He's a great kid, he's smart, he's explosive. We're getting into this schedule now where these eight-plus games where a lot of these young guys that are playing but hadn't played as much are one play away.

"it was good to get his feet wet. I think his first play offensively anyways was a catch, so that was good for him because there's a chance if a receiver or two goes down we're going to have to shuffle some guys around, and he'd be in the mix."