AUBURN – Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze and the rest of the Auburn Tigers football team have been preparing for the annual "A-Day" game, the culminating event of spring practice each season.
Auburn will be looking to turn a new page in year two of the Freeze era after a 6-7 campaign that finished with a blowout loss against Maryland in the Music City Bowl.
Freeze explained the format for Saturday's scrimmage.
"We're putting 27-0 on the scoreboard (for the) defense and let's go play," Freeze said. "I'll vary the field positions and see what happens, see if the offense can overtake the defense at 27. Obviously, if the defense were to have a pick-six or something... they would add to that."
Freeze talked about the time structure of Saturday's game.
"I think it's four 10-minute clocks and we'll see how that goes with TV time and how the game is going," Freeze said. "I'm sure we'll stop it (the clock) some, I think it's probably going to be four 10-minute periods and then stop it maybe the last two minutes of each quarter and play it like normal."
Freeze talked about the injuries that have been persistent in the wide receiver position.
"We've been without Jay Fair and Caleb Wooden and Camden Brown for the better part of the last two weeks... and Koy Moore," Freeze said. "All the returning guys that have played some snaps have been out. I think we'll get Jay (Fair) back this week and Caleb (Wooden), I don't know about Camden (Brown) and Koy (Moore) yet."
Freeze gave insight into the position that consistently garners the most interest, quarterback. He discussed the progress that the individual players have made and how far the unit has come as a whole.
"They absolutely have improved from week one to now," Freeze said. "They're processing the expectations, we have pretty well taken care of the ball."
"I think the competition between Hank (Brown) and Holden (Geriner) and Payton (Thorne) has been really good," Freeze added. "Walker (White) has got incredible arm strength, obviously as a freshman he is swimming a little bit with a lot of the things that he's seen from the defense."
Freeze confirmed who will get the majority of the first-team reps at the quarterback position on Saturday.
"Payton (Thorne) will still be in the lead, pole position, come fall camp right now based on what I've seen this spring," Freeze said. "But I do think the gap is not very far from him and Hank (Brown) and Holden (Geriner). That doesn't mean Walker (White) isn't doing well, he's just learning, but he's really talented."
Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. CT on Saturday. The television broadcast can be found on SEC Network+, and the Auburn Sports Network broadcast can be heard anywhere on the Auburn Athletics app.
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