Auburn notebook: Zac Etheridge recovering from injury

AUBURN — The weather is colder now, so Zac Etheridge has a big hooded sweatshirt to drape over the bulky, two-piece neck brace he’s been forced to wear since Halloween.

He talks with a lot more ease now since that scary hit against Ole Miss, which severed numerous ligaments in his neck and cracked his C5 vertebra. The Etheridge that talked without moving anything but his lips was replaced Tuesday by an engaging, comfortable-looking 21-year-old who hasn’t wavered from wanting to get back on the field.

“I expect to make a full recovery,” Etheridge said. “As for football-wise, we don’t know. Hopefully I’ll be able to play again … I’m just glad to be walking around and doing everything I’m doing right now.”

For now, Etheridge has been around the Auburn Athletic Complex almost as much as his teammates. He’s going to meetings, practice and plans to be on the sidelines for Friday’s Iron Bowl.

“Just letting them see me with a smile on my face and just being around them in practice to lift them up,” he said. “I’m walking around talking to them, helping the safeties out and talking trash with receivers like I always do.”

Etheridge said he’s recovering faster than doctors expected. When he met with reporters just three days after the incident, Etheridge said he had to wear his brace for three to four months.

Wearing the awkward contraption hasn’t become part of him like his football helmet, but, as he displayed Tuesday, it’s by no means a hindrance.
“I’ve gotten used to it a whole lot,” he said. “I’m sleeping and everything fine.”

Etheridge watched Auburn’s game against Georgia from his on-campus apartment. The emotions of the game and not being on the field to help his teammates were tough to endure, but seeing his roommate, Ben Tate, come on the field in his No. 4 made him feel like he was there.

Etheridge said Tate did it by surprise, not having found out until he received countless text messages about two hours before kickoff.

“They knew I was there not physically, but spiritually,” he said. “That just lifted them up a little more. They started off fast but obviously we didn’t get the win. But it stayed with a lot of guys that I was there in some form or fashion.”

Etheridge said he’s stayed in constant contact with his replacement, converted safety Demond Washington. He’s been impressed with the junior-college transfer’s first two games at his spot, but hasn’t bothered bogging Washington down with an Iron Bowl pep talk.

“It’s already a lot of pressure on him so everybody knows what type of game this is,” he said. “Ain’t much to be said, you just got to go out and play to your best abilities.”

Big weekend: Auburn expects nearly 100 high school prospects on campus for Friday’s Iron Bowl, according to AuburnSports.com.

The majority of the Tigers’ 21 commitments will be an attendance, but the rest are either uncommitted or committed to other schools.

Coaches have been hesitant to say there’s more to landing a prized recruit than wins and losses, but Gene Chizik cautiously acknowledged Tuesday that an upset victory wouldn’t hurt.

“I think anytime you’re playing a rivalry game, an in-state rivalry game, it has, potentially, and not every time, but it has potential to have a bearing on recruiting,” he said.

Wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor said that winning would be a short-term victory in some recruiting situations, but there are plenty more factors at work.
“Winning makes everything easy, but if it was easy, everybody would do it,” Taylor said.

“The people we’re bringing in and the recruits we’re looking at is building on relationships that last longer than 60 minutes of a ballgame. It’s a long-term deal for us. This is not a quick fix.”