With two wide receivers tearing anterior cruciate ligaments, Auburn's depth chart is being stretched for the second half of spring practice.
The losses of Eli Stove, who tore his ACL in the last practice before spring break, and Will Hastings, who tore his on Saturday, leaves Auburn depleted at flanker and in the slot.
Ryan Davis, who led Auburn with 84 receptions for 815 yards and five touchdowns last season, is the starting flanker, and true freshman Shedrick Jackson has been primarily in that role as well, though he was in an orange non-contact jersey on Thursday.
"(Davis is) solid; (I) like what he's doing there," offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey said. "We're just trying to piece it together and get some guys some reps that maybe weren't going to get some."
The loss of Hastings, who had 26 receptions for 525 yards and four touchdowns as Auburn's starting "3" slot receiver last season, leaves only Griffin King among scholarship players at the position. Noah Igbinoghene played in the slot last season but has been spent most of the spring with the defense, leaving Auburn to play some of its "9" big slot receivers more.
"We can play with a bigger set too; maybe play Sal (Cannella) there some," Lindsey said. "We can do some different things to get different guys there. We have played Griffin there some, too. Kind of each group we've just played different personnel groups and still get in the same sets we'd get in with Will or whatever."
Even after the injury to Stove, fellow junior Nate Craig-Myers was confident in what the receivers could do this fall.
"We can be a hell of a group," said Craig-Myers, who is working at split end. "We've got everybody back. We got a lot of experience. We got young guys coming in that's going to help. The sky is the limit for (us)."
Gus Malzahn was optimistic that Stove, who had 29 receptions for 265 yards and 30 carries for 315 yards and two touchdowns last season, could play in the fall and will almost definitely feel the same way about Hastings but the decision on whether they'll play or redshirt won't have to be made for months.
Until then, Auburn has to get through six more spring practices and try to avoid sustaining further personnel losses.
Good news will come in the summer when signees Matthew Hill, Anthony Schwartz and Seth Williams arrive.
Schwartz, an accomplished sprinter, will likely be in the slot and either Hill and Williams could end up at flanker or split end, where Auburn has more depth.
"You sign guys these days and you anticipate they'll get an opportunity to play early and a lot of them want that anyway," Lindsey said. "Obviously, sometimes the situation creates more opportunity than you anticipated maybe. That's going to create some opportunities for those guys and also for some guys that are here right now that maybe weren't getting as many reps.
"We're going to turn it into a positive and get some guys some reps and see who can play."
James Crepea is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @JamesCrepea.