Auburn’s defense will move on without one of its most decorated playmakers for the rest of the 2026 season.
Junior linebacker Xavier Atkins was dismissed from the program on Monday night, according to Pete Thamel, following his suspension for Auburn’s upset win over Georgia. His status had already been in doubt after the suspension, and the program’s latest public update came earlier in the day from head coach Alex Golesh, who did not have anything definitive to offer.
“We're still working through it,” Golesh said. “We're continuing to work through it. I don't have an update right now.”
Atkins had become a central figure in DJ Durkin’s defense over the last two seasons after transferring to Auburn from LSU. He broke out as a sophomore and, in his first season with the Tigers, paced the team in tackles, solo tackles, sacks and forced fumbles while also leading the SEC in tackles for loss.
That production turned into a pile of hardware in 2025. Atkins collected Second Team All-America honors, First Team All-SEC recognition, a Chuck Bednarik Award Semifinalist nod, Monday Morning QB Birmingham Club’s SEC Most Valuable Lineman honors and SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Week and Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week recognition for his showing against Arkansas.
Even with the dismissal, Auburn still has options at linebacker. The next man up appears to be sophomore Elijah Melendez, who has been one of the team’s standout performers this season. Melendez leads Auburn with 52 total tackles, 35 solo tackles, 17 assists, four sacks and five pass deflections.
He already flashed what he can do in Atkins’ place against Georgia. With Atkins suspended, Melendez led the Tigers in total tackles, brought down Gunner Stockton for a sack and picked off a pass in Auburn’s 27-24 upset over the No. 1 team.
This season, Atkins was second on the squad in solo tackles with 26, assists with 11, total tackles with 37 and sacks with three. His departure leaves Auburn with a noticeable gap on defense, and the Tigers will have to fill it quickly when they face LSU this weekend at 11:00 a.m. CT on ESPN.
In Other News...
Lane Kiffin Just Added More Intrigue To Auburn's LSU Showdown
Lane Kiffin has already started stirring the pot ahead of LSUs trip to Auburn, and in doing so he added another layer to a game that was already carrying plenty of weight. Kiffin said he was pulling for Auburn to knock off Georgia in the Tigers recent matchup because LSU is next on the schedule, and he also acknowledged how difficult it is to deal with Auburn at home. For Auburn fans, it was the kind of candid opponent commentary that only sharpens attention on a matchup that was already going to draw plenty of it.
The timing matters because LSU is trying to steady itself in the SEC, where recent losses have only increased the pressure around Kiffins tenure. Auburn, meanwhile, gets a chance to play spoiler on its own turf, with the ripple effects reaching far beyond one Saturday night. If LSU slips again, the impact would not stop at the standings, and the stakes around this one figure to keep rising the closer kickoff gets. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Just Delivered The Win That Changes Alex Golesh Expectations
Auburns 27-24 upset of No. 1 Georgia did more than snap a nine-game losing streak in the rivalry, it gave the program a result that instantly reframes what comes next under Alex Golesh. The Tigers took down a Georgia team that had been rolling under Kirby Smart, and they did it with Byrum Brown driving the offense and delivering the kind of balanced performance Auburn has been searching for.
Browns work as both a runner and passer helped Auburn keep the Bulldogs off balance, and his final drive was the one that mattered most in closing out the win. Golesh, after the game, pointed to the backing the program has received from former Auburn legends, a reminder that this kind of victory tends to bring the past and present together fast at a place where expectations never stay quiet for long. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Can't Let Its Georgia High Carry Into LSU Trouble
Auburn walked out of a 27-24 upset of No. 1 Georgia with plenty to feel good about, but the attention inside the program has already shifted to making sure one emotional win does not leak into the next week. Head coach Alex Golesh, along with coordinators Joel Gordon and DJ Durkin, spent a recent press conference laying out the same message from different angles: the Tigers played well enough to beat an elite opponent, yet there were still plenty of details to clean up before No. 18 LSU arrives.
Golesh pointed to the defenses turnovers, the fundamentals that carried the night and the progress made by younger players, while Gordon said the offense still needs more consistency and praised quarterback Byrum Brown for the kind of toughness Auburn will keep leaning on. The larger concern now is whether the Tigers can bottle the energy from the Georgia win without carrying any of its looseness into a matchup that figures to demand a cleaner performance from the opening snap. [Read more 🡒]