Robenson Therezie may not 'be able to play early'

AUBURN -- The breakout performer of Auburn's defense last season may not be available when the Tigers kick off against Arkansas in 16 days.

The status of safety Robenson Therezie, who received the team's Defensive Player of the Year award after recording 57 tackles and a team-high four interceptions last season, is in question.

"Therezie right now, we're not sure he's going to be able to play early," Auburn defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson said Thursday.

It's unclear exactly what is causing doubts of Therezie's availability.

Johnson rattled off a half dozen injuries to various personnel during his roughly 15-minute news conference Thursday but Therezie, who is the only player to start a game for Auburn last season not to be available for interviews since SEC Media Days, was not among them.

Therezie was named to the Bednarik Award watch list in July, for the award given to the national Defensive Player of the Year.

Justin Garrett, who opened preseason camp splitting first-team reps with Therezie, appears to have taken over as the clear starter.

"We're a little nervous about our depth behind Justin," Johnson said. "... The rest of (the star safeties) are freshmen. We actually took a look at T.J. (Davis) this morning and let him play a little bit of it. But a game like Arkansas, that guy is going to end up on the box a lot, so I'll have a linebacker that can play that spot also to back up Justin.

"And you go back to the field alignment when they're out wide against the four-wides and the three-wides and the things our offense does. We've got several defensive backs that could step up there and run it."

Johnson sidestepped a question as to why he is concerned about Therezie, who started all 14 games at "star" last season, starting the season opener,

"He just hasn't had a lot of reps," Johnson said. "He hadn't had a lot of practice reps. We're getting Justin ready and right now we've got to get some depth out there."