Auburn is coming off an open week this past Saturday. Last time they took the field, Auburn lost to Tennessee, despite Faizon Brandon being benched in the game.

Now, Auburn has a massive game against Georgia this week on the road. IT is also being revealed that the Tigers will be without one of their star defensive players, per Justin Hokanson of On3.

Linebacker Xavier Atkins will not play in the game against Georgia, according to head coach Alex Golesh.

“We’ll keep it in house. That’ll be the only piece of it that I will be addressing. He won’t be available for us this week for the game,” Golesh said.

Atkins began his career at LSU before transferring to Auburn for the 2025 season. He stayed with the program during the transition from Hugh Freeze to Golesh. Last year, he racked up 84 tackles with nine sacks, two forced fumbles, and an interception. He already has 37 tackles this year, while adding three sacks and an interception this season.

Atkins did not start against Southern Miss earlier in the season for disciplinary reasons, but he did appear in the game.

With Atkins out, De'Marcus Riddick is expected to have his role in the defense increase, according to Alex Scarborough of ESPN.

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Riddick has been working back from a season-ending shoulder injury suffered last November.

“Demarcus, we've worked really hard as he's come back from the off-season stuff to get him back really, really confident,” Golesh said. “And this entire building are all fans of Demarcus Riddick, and we're slowly but surely seeing him get better and better. And the better is truly more confident coming back. And what he had to go through to even get back is a credit to him and his mental toughness and just him gaining the confidence back. But certainly you would imagine his role will continue to increase, which was the plan going in all along in terms of hopefully getting the best version of him.”

Auburn is 3-2 on the year, and will visit the top team in the nation, Georgia, at 3:30 pm ET on Saturday.