Auburn completed its second scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday, and unlike the first scrimmage, the offense was the victor.
“I thought the offense did a good job today,” head coach Gus Malzahn said. “They had some explosive plays. I thought they rebounded well from the last scrimmage.
“The defense also did some good stuff. They had a safety and one interception. I think all three quarterbacks threw touchdowns.
“Overall, it was a good day. No major injuries, overall a very solid day.”
According to sources, Jarrett Stidham, the prohibitive favorite to land the quarterback job for the Tigers, connected with Darius Slayton on a 99-yard touchdown early in the scrimmage.
True freshman Malik Willis also fired a 99-yard touchdown pass to Marquis McClain. Sean White joined in on the fun with a 65-yard touchdown to Nate Craig-Myers.
Although he has lots of information about his personnel, Malzahn said he was not ready to name any starters.
“This is an evaluation scrimmage, there is no doubt,” Malzahn said. “I’ll get with all three sides of the football and have some personnel discussions.
“I’m not ready to stand up here right now with any position and tell you we’re ready or we’re close. Obviously having two scrimmages, we’ve got a lot of information.”
Malzahn noted that a lot of the focus Saturday was on the freshmen and veterans who have yet to prove themselves for the Tigers.
“Our number one goal today in our scrimmage was to give our true freshman a real look, to see where they’re at on special teams, offense and defense,” Malzahn said. “To see the guys that are going to have a chance to help this year.
“Also, the emphasis was on some veterans. Some veterans we feel like have improved, really give them a good look to see what they can do.”
The Tigers also spent a large portion of practice focusing on special teams. Auburn went through live, full-speed field goal, punt and kickoff drills. Malzahn hinted that Auburn’s competition for punter began to clear itself during the scrimmage.
“I thought Ian Shannon had a good day today,” Malzahn said. “We put a lot of pressure on him and he did a solid job with that.”
Malzahn also mentioned John Franklin III and freshman Noah Igbinoghene took the first team reps as kickoff returners Saturday.
Malzahn also announced that freshman JaTarvious Whitlow is in jeopardy of missing Auburn’s season opener vs. Georgia Southern with an ankle injury.
A handful of key veterans missed Saturday’s scrimmage, including Kyle Davis, Tray Matthews, Daniel Thomas and Marlon Davidson, but should not miss an extended period of time.
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