Combo of injuries, opt outs taking toll on SEC rosters

(AP) — There was a time when college football fans could have reasonably expected receivers Jaylen Waddle and Ja’Marr Chase to be the marquee players when Alabama visits LSU in November.

But a combination of injuries and pandemic-related opt-outs have take those players and many others in the SEC out of action between fall camp and the halfway point of the schedule.

Opt-outs have thinned rosters at Vanderbilt and Mississippi State, and taken key players from Georgia and Texas A&M.

And Auburn doesn’t yet have a timeline for the return of injured defensive leader K.J. Britt.