On the final Saturday before A-Day, the Auburn football team went through a half-practice, half-scrimmage that focused on the development of the younger players, although the more seasoned veterans of the team did get some work in as well.
Two quarterbacks, John Franklin III and Tyler Queen, went live in the scrimmage portion, while returners Jeremy Johnson and Sean White donned orange non-contact jerseys. Franklin got most of the live reps, however, and coach Gus Malzahn’s reasoning was straight to the point.
“We just felt like it was important one more time to see how he can protect the football, just let him make some plays with his feet,” Malzahn said. It was a good evaluation from that end.”
To that end, Franklin perfomed “quite a bit better than he did last Saturday, which is to be expected,” Malzahn said.
In last Saturday’s scrimmage, Franklin broke a 70-yard run, but he also had trouble connecting on deep passes and also put the ball on the ground during one zone-read exchange with the running back. However, despite his improvement on the field, his attention to detail off the field has made an imprint on the coaches as well.
“We've been impressed the way he's picked up all the things from the sideline ― the pre-snap things,” Malzahn said. “There's a lot to playing quarterback in our system before the play even starts, but you even look at the defense. I've been very impressed the way he's done that. He's a learner. He's study hard. We're just kind of waiting until the game becomes slow. Kodi Burns the other day was talking the other day when we first got here in 2009 he was playing quarterback, and just how it takes a little bit to start feeling comfortable. You can see he's feeling more and more comfortable, but it's just going to be a matter of time.”
Franklin will get a chance to make a good impression on the coaches as he and the rest of the Tigers gear up for A-Day next Saturday. The game kicks off at 3 p.m.
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