From the locker room: Auburn players react following last-minute loss to Alabama

AUBURN — “I’m still kind of in shock.”

Those were the words of Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne following the Tigers’ 27-24 loss to No. 8 Alabama. He wasn’t alone. Players were shocked and dismayed at the loss, saying it certainly cut deeper than the close loss to Georgia earlier in the season.

It was a loss that left quite a few players walking back onto Pat Dye Field afterwards to simply walk around, talk to each other and contemplate not only the end of the regular season, but just what exactly happened in those final moments on Saturday night.

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Here’s a bunch of noteworthy quotes from Auburn players after the sixth regular season loss:

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Jaylin Simpson, CB

On the message at the timeout before the fourth and 31…

“Stay deep. Just keep the ball in front of you. I knew we were rushing two, so we knew he was going to have a lot of time to scramble back there. But the main point was to stay deep, keep it in front of you and bat the ball down.”

On the atmosphere in the locker room…

“It’s a lot of heads down and a few of our leaders trying to keep everyone’s head up. That’s also what I was trying to do.”

Payton Thorne, QB

On the emotions at the end of the game…

“I’ve never been part of something like that. That was so close and just slipped away. I’m still kind of in shock. I don’t really know if that’s the word I would use to describe it for me.”

On what it looked like on the field…

“We weren’t getting it done through the air, not as much as I would like. That is what it took to get yards on the ground. Just run it down the field whenever I could to help our team.”

Eugene Asante, LB

On the tough loss…

“Truthfully, I am grateful that the team fought and laid it on the line. Everyone showed up and did their one-eleven (workout). That is something we preached going into the game doing the one-eleven and everybody came out there and wanted to put in their best effort. I am just proud of the team and the way they performed. Just got to prepare next week for the bowl game.”

On leading the younger players through a tough loss…

“I am just letting them know that we are building a foundation for next year and we understand that Alabama is a great team and that they have a great quarterback who is a dynamic player. Just building that confidence within them and letting them know that what we just experienced is a tough thing but just growing for the future and understanding to put our best foot forward. That is something we are going to continue to emphasize, and this is not the end.”  

Damari Alston, RB

On the emotions in the locker room…

“It hurts. We let one slip away and it is going to sting us for 364 days. It hurts, but we all came together as a team. Jaylin [Simpson] brought us together, told us that we are a team, so we have to break it down as a team. I think this year we formed a real brotherhood. There’s been a lot of ups and downs, a bumpy road. We’ve been through a lot of adversity that made us stronger and made us come together, so we have to keep going. We have a bowl game coming up, so we’ve got to execute that.”

On being in a game that is competitive and decided in the last second…

“We just kept encouraging each other, that’s it. All the pain that we have been through this year and the hard work that we have put in from winter, spring, and summer, that is what we’re preaching on the sideline. We are built for this moment.”

Jalen McLeod, LB

On his emotions post-game…

“We played our hearts out. You can tell that. And when you play your hearts out, it’s the worst feeling. The closest games are the worst games, and we lost, and it means so much. I’m a transfer and I know what it means. When you play your hearts out and you lose like that, in that type of fashion, it’s the worst. There was a lot of emotion going through everybody.” 

What he told his teammates as they left the field…

“I told D.J. [James], because D.J. had a hell of a game, with corners, people just look at that one play. I told him, ‘Look D.J., I’d take you again. If you could throw that ball up one more time, I’d give you another chance. You had like what, 3 PBU’s this game? So, I’d take the rest of the game with you.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, I got you.’ Because he is an NFL talent. But sometimes you live with stuff like that.”

Jarquez Hunter, RB

On the emotion in the locker room after coming so close…

“It was hard for everybody. One play can change a game, and you have to fight until the end. It is hard on everybody, especially the players on defense.”

What it means to put on a performance like this after last week’s loss against New Mexico State…

“It started in practice. I think we had a great week in practice. We practiced hard. We came out here and showed everybody we can compete with anybody, and we showed that today. We just have to do it in the ball game. I think we played hard as a team. I think we fought together as a team. We just came up short.”