Football can be an unforgiving sport.

Auburn has felt that throughout the 2025 season, and it only got worse during last week’s 23-17 double-overtime loss to Missouri.

Not only did the Tigers lose their fourth game in a row, they also lost their leader and arguably the team’s best offensive lineman, starting center Connor Lew, to a torn ACL.

That made way for 17-year-old true freshman Kail Ellis, the youngest player in the FBS, to play 40 snaps last week, according to Pro Football Focus. Now, with Lew out for the season, Ellis is in position to make his first career start in what’s expected to be a wet, rainy, late-morning SEC scrap against Arkansas.

If you followed college football last season, you’ll know that this isn’t the first time a 17-year-old has starred in the SEC.

However

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