Auburn starting cornerback Keionte Scott will miss “considerable time” with an injury, head coach Hugh Freeze said during his weekly Monday press conference.

Scott will have surgery Monday.

“Unfortunately, Keionte did not get a good report,” Freeze said. “That hurts us a lot. He’s our leader back there. He’s going to have surgery today. Hasn’t been a good year for us with injuries. Losing him and Keys on the defensive side. It stings, it hurts.”

He was injured during Auburn’s 45-13 win Saturday against Samford. He went to the locker room during the first half and came back in the second wearing street clothes and a boot on his right foot.

Freeze did not provide any specifics on how much time he will miss.

Without Scott, Auburn didn’t have two of its three starting cornerbacks against Samford. Top corner Nehemiah Pritchett is yet to play this season with an apparent injury to his ankle which was heavily wrapped during a practice before the UMass game.

Pritchett has worn pads for warm-ups before games against Cal and Samford, but eventually went back to the locker room and took off his pads before the game.

Auburn was also without cornerback Donovan Kaufman, who was evaluated for a concussion after the Cal game. Freeze said he expects Kaufman to be “fine” going forward.

Freeze said Kaufman would take over Scott’s spot as the nickel corner.

Freeze said the injuries are also causing a reshuffling of Auburn’s secondary. He suggested defensive back Caleb Wooden could play some safety. He has also played in the nickel spot.

“We met this morning and we’re just toying with all the different combinations with our current injuries back there,” Freeze said. “Hopefully DK can play. He’ll move into the star position. Maybe move J.D. Rhym there and play the younger corners, we’re not really sure, and leave Caleb at the high safety cause we gotta have two deep to function. We’re just trying to figure out what the best combination is there and we’re not really sure just yet what that will look like.”

Scott also is Auburn’s top punt returner, and his absence left Auburn thin on special teams, too.

Ja’Varrius Johnson was initially used as the punt returner and he dropped a punt, though was able to recover it, before he picked up an injury. Then Auburn went to Jay Fair, who also fumbled a punt. Samford recovered that one.

“Var was our second, and he couldn’t play,” Freeze said Monday. “We were down to our third guy. We gotta get some reps this week.”

Safety Jaylin Simpson is now listed as the top punt returner on Auburn’s new depth chart released Monday.

Auburn is also down its top linebacker, Austin Keys, for an extended time after he underwent thumb surgery following the UMass game. Auburn’s defense has dealt with a slew of other injuries including to LB Larry Nixon III and jack linebacker Jalen McLeod.

McLeod has been in and out over Auburn’s first three games, but has dressed for all three of them.

“We need all these guys, come Saturday,” Freeze said. “It’s concerning right now, the list they gave us this morning.”

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]