Byrum questionable for USF game

AUBURN – Freshman kicker Wes Byrum (ankle), who kicked three field goals in Auburn’s season-opening victory over Kansas State on Saturday, is questionable for this week’s game against South Florida.
"We'll wait and see," Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said Sunday. "It's swollen and a little bit. It's his kicking foot. We'll have to see what happens."
Byrum wore a protective boot Sunday and left the athletics complex on crutches. He said he expects the boot to come off today and that he will play against South Florida.
If he plays, he’ll likely only kick field goals and extra points and not handle kickoffs. He was injured on a kickoff in the second quarter and attempted two field goals after that, hitting from 31 yards and missing from 47.
Walk-on Morgan Hull handled the next kickoff and kicked out of bounds late in the third quarter, resulting in a penalty. Zach Kutch handled the last two kickoffs.
If Byrum can’t handle field goals and extra points this week, then Kutch or Graham Sutter will.
"We'll let them kick this week the first couple of days," Tuberville said. "But Wesley could kick. He kicked two field goals with the ankle the way it was. He may not be able to kickoff, and that's the reason I didn't kick him -- because he couldn't run."

M-A-S-H: Auburn got encouraging injury news Sunday about middle linebacker Tray Blackmon (ankle), cornerback Jonathan Wilhite (hamstring) and safety Aairon Savage (ankle). All look like they will play against South Florida, Tuberville said.
Tuberville said the physical season-opening game left "two or three dozen" players in treatment Sunday.
Among then was cornerback Patrick Lee, who has a sore neck. This after Kansas State’s Justin McKinney grabbed Lee’s face mask and pulled Lee’s head around on a kickoff return.
Tuberville said only Byrum’s injury is serious enough to make him questionable for the South Florida game.

THE ‘DOG HOUSE’: Wadley product Terrell Zachery, a redshirt freshman wide receiver, and reserve junior safety Lorenzo Ferguson did not suit up for Saturday’s game. Why?
"Dog house," Tuberville said, using a cliché that indicates a coach is not real pleased with a player.
Are they suspended?
"Dog house. My dog house," he said. "They are in my dog house. Dog house."
What did they do?
"Dog house," he said.

LESTER UPDATE: Tuberville said Sunday there’s no change in the status of starting tailback Brad Lester, who sat out of Saturday’s game on suspension for what a Friday Auburn news release termed "unresolved academic issues."
"He can practice," Tuberville said. "That's a thing that, hopefully, will be resolved in the future.
"He's not going to be with us until we get it resolved. He'll be practicing. He just won't be playing. We'd love to have him out there. He's got some work to do to make that happen."

P-O-Gs: The coaches’ selections for players of the game were tight end Gabe McKenzie (offense), linemen Antonio Coleman and Pat Sims (defense), Byrum (special teams), Brian Anyadike (scout-team offense) and Darrell Roseman (scout-team defense).
--- Joe Medley