Photo by Shanna Lockwood
Auburn guard Thomas O’Reilly, who sat out his first year on campus as a redshirt despite being an early enrollee, has decided to transfer and been granted his release, an Auburn spokesman confirmed Tuesday.
AuburnUndercover.com reported earlier today that O’Reilly will transfer to Georgia Tech.
O’Reilly, listed at 6-3, 314 pounds this spring, was the No. 8-rated guard in the country coming out of Pope High School in Marietta, Ga., but he arrived battling an injury and has struggled to gain any momentum as a player in his first year.
With a young offensive line — the Tigers only have one senior, and Auburn has signed 11 prospects on the offensive line the last two years, including O’Reilly — he faced a long, tough road to playing time.
Earlier in the spring, Auburn offensive line coach Jeff Grimes said that O’Reilly hadn’t progressed the same way that classsmates Greg Robinson and Christian Westerman have.
“He’s not where those guys are right now,” Grimes said.