Auburn football notebook: Jaylin Simpson's takeaways

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Jamie Holt/Auburn Tigers

Jaylin Simpson

AUBURN, Ala. – When the receiver he was covering started counting, Auburn defensive back Jaylin Simpson knew what that meant.

 "I read the receiver; I could tell what he was running from his first step. I knew he was counting his steps and usually when receivers count steps, they aren't really going deep," Simpson said. "I had a feel for it, and the formation, I kind of knew what was going on."

Simpson returned an interception 50 yards for a touchdown 17 seconds into the second half Saturday in the Tigers' 59-14 victory vs. Massachusetts, racing toward the south end zone where students clad in white were waiting.

"All I saw was white," Simpson said. "It was beautiful, man. I keep replaying it in my head. It was a great feeling."

In the first half, Simpson recovered a fumble after Donovan Kaufman's strip sack and returned in 13 yards to set up the third of three Robby Ashford touchdown runs.

"A funky one. It was funny to me," Simpson said. "DK came around and stripped the quarterback. The O-linemen, those guys can't bend really well. They tried to scoop it up and couldn't. I don't know it was who kicked it, my eyes got big and the ball was right in front of my face."

Simpson downplayed his stellar performance that included his fourth career interception and first career fumble recovery.

"Just doing my job, doing what I'm coached to do," he said.


CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES
After his first Auburn victory, head coach Hugh Freeze rolled Toomer's Corner with his family before heading home for celebratory sandwiches.

"In life and football, I think we all fail to celebrate victories," Freeze said. "I've made up my mind for the rest of my career, I'm going to enjoy at least for a few hours the fact that our team, our staff, found a way to win a football game in college.

"I don't care who you play, it's just not easy to win football games, so I want to enjoy that and I want our kids to, and I want them to learn to do that in life with their families and celebrate each other when those things happen."
 

SALUTING STAN
Before the game, Auburn honored former quarterback Stan White for his 22 seasons as the analyst for the Auburn Sports Network.

"This is awesome," said White, who quarterbacked the Tigers from 1990-93 before joining Auburn's radio crew from 2001-22. "I had such a blessed time calling the games over the last 22 straight years with the likes of Jim Fyffe, Rod Bramblett and Andy Burcham. It's great to have some family time."

Jason Campbell, who quarterbacked the Tigers from 2001-04, succeeded White in the press box this season.

"He's going to do a fantastic job," White said. "He's got that experience. He's going to step right in and keep the network going. I'm looking forward to hearing them for many years."

White will return to Pat Dye Field for the Ole Miss game on Oct. 21 when Auburn celebrates the 30th anniversary of the unbeaten 1993 team.  


Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer