Yes, that Auburn player running around in the No. 32 jersey during the Tigers’ 61-49 loss to South Florida on Wednesday night was Frankie Sullivan.

Sullivan, a junior guard whose 12.7 scoring average last year outpaced Auburn’s opening-night starters’ combined marks from last season, was considered a long shot to return for this season after completely tearing his left ACL toward the end of July.

A long shot until he subbed in at the end of the first half Wednesday night.

“We’ve been debating about it all week, and I just made up my mind at the last minute,” Sullivan said. “That’s why they didn’t even have my jersey.”

Sullivan, who usually wears No. 20, said the trainers told him when he first tore the ligament during a pickup game with teammates that it would probably five months before he could play again, putting his optimistic return date at the end of December.

But they also knew Sullivan wasn’t one to sit around and wait.

“From the jump, me and (trainer) Jarod (Grace) talked it over and I was like, ‘I don’t want to sit out the whole year,’” Sullivan said.  “And he was like, ‘I already know how you are. But don’t push it too fast.’

“But actually I’ve been pushing it pretty hard and I’ve been going pretty well in rehab. I think that for me to be pushing it four-and-a-half months, I’m pretty good where I’m at.”

Sullivan said he’s been going through therapy sessions twice or three times daily, sessions that include squats, leg raises, stretching, jumping drills and other exercises to get his knee back to full strength.

It’s an ongoing battle and Sullivan’s not back to 100 percent. He was limited to 9 minutes against South Florida, and he said the therapy sessions will continue.

At least he has someone to suffer through them with: 6-foot-9 sophomore forward Ty Armstrong, who tore his ACL just three weeks after Sullivan.

“He’s been in there with me, motivating me and I motivate him,” Sullivan said. “It’s a bad thing but a good thing at the same time. It’s a blessing and a curse him getting hurt. But him getting hurt the same time as me, we’ve both been pushing us through this injury. It’s really helped us out a lot.”

Sullivan said he didn’t know what his redshirt status would be if he tested the knee out over the next couple of games and it didn’t react well, and he said Tigers coach Tony Barbee left the decision entirely up to him and his family.

“Coach Barbee is a real modest guy,” Sulivan said. “He lets you make your own decisions and your own future, but at the same time I do respect his wishes and me playing or not playing. If he said he don’t want me to play, I’m pretty sure that he would back me up.”

But Sullivan wanted to play.

He watched his young Tigers team struggle to a 3-5 start, one in which their offense fell into a black hole for large portions of games, and knew he could do something about it.

Sullivan showed a glimpse of what he could do for Auburn against the Bulls, sinking a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer as he was being fouled, then sinking the free throw to polish off a 4-point play.

Even if he’s not quite back to being the same player he was last year, or when he was putting up 30 a night at R.C. Hatch High, Sullivan feels like there’s a place for him on this team.

“I know I can’t break anybody down like I used to or move as fast as I used to, but my jump shot is still there,” Sullivan said. “Once I get my legs back, it’d be pretty good for the team.”