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Could T.J. Neal Have an Impact on the Auburn Defense against Texas A&M?
Now that T.J. Neal is back with team after being suspended against Arkansas State, we’ll take a look at the impact he could have against Texas A&M.
Gus Malzahn announced this week that linebacker T.J. Neal will dress for Auburn against Texas A&M after being suspended against Arkansas State.
During the entire game last Saturday I kept looking for T.J. Neal to see if he would play. I never saw him, and now I know why.
Apparently his actions after the Clemson game were enough to warrant a suspension. The Auburn coaching staff clearly isn’t messing around this year. T.J. Neal put himself ahead of the team, and we can’t have that.
However, I still think T.J. Neal could have a major impact on this football team. As I’ve mentioned several times, he’s by far the most experienced linebacker on this team with 244 career tackles at Illinois.
I still don’t understand why he didn’t get more playing time against Clemson, but the coaches obviously felt there were better options at linebacker.
Through two games I would have to agree as Tre’ Williams and Darrell Williams have looked pretty solid.
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Regardless, you need as much depth at linebacker as possible, and T.J. Neal should still have a role in this defense.
Against a Texas A&M team that likes to spread the field, I think an experienced linebacker like T.J. Neal could have a major impact.
Auburn’s linebackers will be running all over the field on Saturday trying to keep up with Knight. The coaching staff will need to keep everyone fresh at linebacker.
That’s why I think T.J. Neal will have a big role in this weekend’s game. If he doesn’t get a significant amount of playing time this weekend, I think you can write him off for the season.
Obviously he’s gotten off to a rough start with the coaching staff, so he has a lot to prove in practice and in game situations before the coaching staff can trust him.
Look for T.J. Neal to come up big in this game if the coaching staff gives him an opportunity to play at linebacker.
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