Yahoo Lifestyle Auburn leading rusher Boobee Whitlow out 4-6 weeks with knee injury
Auburn coach Gus Malzahn revealed Tuesday that running back Boobee Whitlow would miss 4-6 weeks after he suffered a knee injury in the second half of the Tigers’ loss to No. 7 Florida. Whitlow underwent surgery Tuesday according to Auburn coach Gus Malzahn.
Gus Malzahn announces Boobee Whitlow had a "procedure" done today and will be out 4-6 weeks
— Bryan Matthews (@BMattAU) October 8, 2019
Whitlow is No. 12 Auburn’s leading rusher and has 110 carries for 544 yards and seven touchdowns in 2019. His seven touchdowns also lead the team. If you don’t recognize Whitlow as Auburn’s leading rusher, you may recognize him as the player who accidentally slid into Mississippi State’s bulldog mascot when the teams played each other on Sept. 28.
Whitlow had 18 carries for 81 yards and his injury comes at an extremely inopportune time for the Tigers. Auburn faces No. 5 LSU and No. 3 Georgia over the next six weeks and if Whitlow is out for the maximum amount of time he could miss both of those games. He seems certain to miss the game against LSU which comes on Oct. 26.
Auburn’s running game has averaged over five yards a carry in 2019 as Malzahn has returned to being the coach that calls the offensive plays. In Whitlow’s absence, Shaun Shivers and Kam Martin both figure to get more carries. They’ve combined for 61 carries for 318 yards and two touchdowns this season.
The Tigers’ offense could also lean on freshman QB Bo Nix even more as well. Nix is the team’s second-leading rusher but struggled against the Gators in the team’s first loss of the season. Nix threw three interceptions against the Gators after throwing just two interceptions in the Tigers’ first five games.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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