Auburn senior right guard Braden Smith and true freshman punter Aidan Marshall have been named SEC Offensive Lineman and SEC Freshman of the Week, respectively, announced by the conference Monday morning.
Smith tallied a season-high 13 blocks, including eight that resulted in either a first down or a touchdown.
Auburn's offense racked up 496 total yards on the day, including 228 on the ground and 268 courtesy of quarterback Jarrett Stidham. The 42-point performance is the fifth time in the last six conference games that Auburn has scored 40 or more points.
Marshall, a walk-on true freshman, had a career outing, averaging 47.4 yards on five punts, including a 70-yarder. The sixth-longest punt in program history was the longest by an Auburn punter since Kody Bliss booted a 71-yarder against Tulane in 2006.
Many dubbed Texas A&M return man Christian Kirk a problem matchup for an Auburn special teams that had given up a punt return TD against LSU and a near-kick return TD against Arkansas. Kirk wasn't able to yield any extra field position on Saturday thanks to Marshall's efforts.
The starting punter spot was a position that head coach Malzahn called vital in the offseason.
“How about our punter, now?” Malzahn said. “There’s a lot of stress that goes into dealing with Christian Kirk back there and he had a great day — not a good day, but a great day — for a walk-on freshman. I’m really proud of him.”
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