Auburn is set to hold its annual A-Day game to conclude spring football practices on Saturday, and this year’s game marks the first A-Day game under new head coach Hugh Freeze.
The scrimmage in Jordan-Hare Stadium consists of the offense facing the defense with the defense beginning the game with a 24-0 lead while there is a 60-minute running clock with no quarters.
While this scrimmage does not perfectly mirror a real game, Auburn fans will get the chance to watch the Tigers’ returnees and the 21 newcomers from high school and the transfer portal. The Tigers have nine of their high school recruits enrolled early and brought in 12 players from the transfer portal, which ranks as the fourth-best class in the country according to 247Sports.
With an ongoing quarterback battle between Robby Ashford, T.J. Finley and Holden Geriner brewing, a new leader in the running back room, a revamped offensive line and a growing wide receiver room, many eyes will be locked on the Tigers. However, Freeze did his best to lower Auburn fans’ expectations for the A-Day game.
“Don’t expect too much, truthfully… I really just don’t want to show too much of what we might really be good at,” Freeze said.
Despite the low-profile, laid-back approach to this year’s A-Day game, pads will be popping and players will be battling with each other to impress the coaches and trying to improve their spot on the depth chart.
Here are some players to watch during Auburn’s scrimmage.
Damari Alston, Brian Battie (RB)
Former Auburn running back Tank Bigsby is off to the NFL Draft after three seasons at Auburn, creating a starting spot open for Auburn’s running backs. That spot is expected to be filled by Jarquez Hunter, who Freeze recently called “probably the best running back I’ve coached,” and has run for 1,261 yards and 10 touchdowns in his two seasons at Auburn as the second option.
With Hunter expected to be the team’s first-string running back, he likely won’t feature very much in the A-Day game to stay away from injury. Damari Alston, a returning sophomore, and Brian Battie, a transfer from South Florida, could get a majority of the carries Saturday. Both running backs are speedy, explosive runners looking to turn heads and prove they can be reliable options once the regular season rolls around. With rain projected in the forecast during the game, Auburn may keep the ball on the ground Saturday and allow its three main running backs to get carries.
Austin Keys, Robert Woodyard Jr. (LB)
Like the running back group, the linebacker group also lost a key piece of its rotation to the NFL Draft with Owen Pappoe leaving Auburn after four seasons.
The Tigers went to the portal and replaced Pappoe with Ole Miss transfer Austin Keys. Keys tallied 51 tackles and 3½ tackles for loss as a Rebel and steps into a linebacker room that already has a couple of veterans in Cam Riley and Wesley Steiner, but needed another experienced, consistent body. Due to Keys’ experience in the SEC, the Mississippi native is expected to play a large role in the fall and will get his first chance to impress on Saturday.
Redshirt freshman Robert Woodyard Jr. played in just four games last season, but the highest-rated recruit in Auburn’s 2022 recruiting class has made improvements this spring and looks to finally showcase his talent in the A-Day game. Steiner said that the young linebacker has “grown physically” and “matured as a man,” and Woodyard Jr. should have his chance to show that growth in a group that plans to rotate heavily in the A-Day game and in the fall.
Kayin Lee (CB)
Auburn did not lose a single member of its secondary from the 2022 season. However, that has not stopped true freshman Kayin Lee from turning heads in the secondary room. Sitting at 5-foot-11 and weighing 184 pounds, Lee certainly looks like a cornerback who could crack the rotation his freshman year. Secondary coach Wesley McGriff has voiced praise for him this spring.
“Kayin Lee is doing a great job,” McGriff said. “I mean, you got to think that this guy is supposed to be getting ready to go to the prom, but he’s in spring ball, making plays.”
Freeze echoed that praise by saying Lee “has just continued to catch our eye and flash.”
Auburn’s cornerback room consists of returning starters Nehemiah Pritchett and D.J. James who elected to return to Auburn for their senior year instead of entering the NFL draft, but Lee will get his chance Saturday to prove he can also be a viable option to rotate into the game to give Pritchett and James rest when needed.
Rivaldo Fairweather (TE)
Auburn said goodbye to tight end John Samuel Shenker, whose name appears all over the Auburn tight end record books, after six seasons on the Plains.
To make up for this loss, Freeze dipped into the transfer portal and found Rivaldo Fairweather from Florida International. Auburn was the first school to offer Fairweather once he entered the portal.
Fairweather spent three seasons at FIU where he totaled 838 yards receiving and five touchdowns on 54 receptions. Given his big 6-foot-4, 251-pound frame, Fairweather could become a threat down the middle of the field and in the red zone.
Although there are four other scholarship tight ends on Auburn’s roster, Fairweather is expected to play a bigger pass-catching role than the others as Fairweather’s reception mark (54) outweighs the rest of the tight end room (29), and that could be on display Saturday.
The A-Day game is set to kick off at 1:20 p.m. CST on Saturday, April 8, and can be streamed on SEC Network+ and ESPN+.
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Jacob Waters is a junior majoring in journalism. From Leeds, Alabama, he started with The Plainsman in fall 2021.
Twitter: @JacobWaters_
