This is an opinion column.

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The more Auburn waits to address the status of football player Malcolm Simmons, then the more pressure will be put on his alleged victim of domestic violence.

Is that the kind of game Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze wants to play before the beginning of fall camp?

Nasty stuff.

Fall camp is here and at Auburn it’s beginning with a scandal that grows by the day. Freeze can’t stay silent forever, though. Reckoning with domestic violence is now the biggest storyline at Auburn to begin Freeze’s make-or-break season.

Auburn is a sleeper pick to contend for the SEC championship, but I’m beginning to have some serious doubts.

Where’s the accountability?

Police arrested Simmons on July 16 and charged him with a felony count of domestic assault with strangulation or suffocation. According to the police report, there were bruises on the neck of Simmons’ girlfriend after she called 911.

Simmons said he didn’t do it and all Auburn has said is that it’s gathering the facts of the case. Whatever that means.

Isn’t that what the police already did?

Are Auburn football players suddenly above the law?

Simmons shouldn’t be on the team with a case of domestic violence against him, but he’s still listed on the roster.

Why is Auburn dragging this out, and what’s to gain? Does Freeze and athletics director John Cohen think the woman choked herself?

Freeze is beginning to compromise Auburn’s integrity. Silence isn’t an option and, in this case, has its own implications. But no one has addressed the alleged assault, and so we’re left to assume that Auburn is hoping the girlfriend drops the charges and the case goes away.

And the manipulation of an alleged victim of domestic violence continues.

In the meantime, fall camp begins on Wednesday. Freeze will have some explaining to do.

If Simmons practices on Wednesday, then Auburn president Christopher B. Roberts needs to step in and handle the situation.

Imagine a scenario where Simmons practices with the team one day and then shows up in court for a domestic violence charge the next. That can’t be allowed to happen. Simmons’ preliminary hearing is set for Aug.13.

Simmons is well liked, a phenomenal athlete and a hometown kid. He was the captain of his Benjamin Russell High School football team in nearby Alexander City. If he’s smart, then he learns an important lesson from this mistake and gets another chance someplace else. But he can’t get a second try at Auburn.

There’s no two-strike policy when it comes to domestic violence.

Simmons deserves his day in court, but playing college football at Auburn is a privilege and not a right.

Building a team culture starts there.

And for a coach with a questionable history, the silence on Simmons isn’t the type of thing that wins the hearts of fans.

On Tuesday of SEC Media Days, Freeze announced that Auburn’s team culture was in great shape and ready for a run at the SEC championship and College Football Playoff. On Wednesday, one of his projected starters at wide receiver had to be bailed out of jail for allegedly choking his girlfriend.

Worst timing ever.

There are financial implications, of course.

College revenue sharing began on July 1. Before that, Simmons had an NIL deal with Auburn. Is Simmons collecting revenue-sharing checks from Auburn while he awaits his court date? Is the NIL cash still rolling in?

Money makes everything messier. No wonder administrators so strongly oppose the idea of classifying college players as employees.

Any employee of Auburn would face termination for a domestic violence felony charge. Do football players being paid by the university get a different set of rules?

BE HEARD

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Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the book “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”