The Auburn football team had its first two-a-day practice of fall camp on Thursday, a tough test after Wednesday's fully live scrimmage at the indoor facility.
Head coach Gus Malzahn spoke to the media between the morning and afternoon practices, and he was not happy with his team's performance in the first session.
"I pulled the team up afterwards and told them, bottom line, I wasn't happy with the way we responded," Malzahn said. "I didn't feel like our approach was good, and we are going to have to make sure we are mentally and physically ready to practice each time.
"Our standards are high, and I want to make sure that our players understand that."
Malzahn said Thursday morning's practice focused on corrections from Wednesday's scrimmage, a practice the head coach looked at in a positive light despite a disappointing Thursday morning.
"The great thing about scrimmages is that you can specifically learn from them and teach off of them," Malzahn said. "There were a lot of good situations in the scrimmage yesterday that we can learn from as a team. It was really good from a coaches' standpoint. We found out a lot of information about our team--not just individuals, but a lot about the team."
Wednesday's scrimmage news was dominated by the decision to make all four quarterbacks battling for Auburn's starting job go live, and Malzahn says he was impressed by the play of his signal callers.
"Each one of them handled the pressure well," Malzahn said. "We had some guys hang in the pocket. All four of our quarterbacks showed toughness, and I think that's one of the number one things you look for in a quarterback--can they hang in the pocket when the pressure is on?"
Malzahn said he and his staff are looking at each individual mistake the quarterbacks and the rest of the Tigers made during Wednesday's scrimmage so they can put the players back in those same situations in the next scrimmage, which is scheduled for Saturday.
The head coach said those situations on Saturday will help the staff start narrowing down the depth chart in all positions, including quarterback.
"Now when I say 'narrow it down,' I don't know what it means yet other than the fact that we're rotating too many guys right now," Malzahn continued.
In addition to the quarterbacks, Malzahn said he was also impressed by the play of some of Auburn's younger players.
During Wednesday's post-practice player interviews, freshman defensive end Carl Lawson's name was mentioned as someone who "blew a play up." On the other side of the field, freshman wide receiver Tony Stevens has garnered the praise of several of his teammates so far in camp.
"We really feel like (Stevens) is talented, and we're just trying to see how he reacts," Malzahn said. "Fall camp for a lot of the freshmen coming in is 24/7 football. It's meetings, it's practice. It's eat, sleep, get up and more football. We're trying to figure out these young guys, how they are doing mentally."
The Tigers will wrap up Thursday with a practice scheduled for 2 p.m. After a live scrimmage and a two-a-day, the players will have an off day on Friday, which is also team photo day.
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