Auburn freshmen have chance to impress, says Gus Malzahn

Auburn freshmen have chance to impress, says Gus MalzahnAuburn freshmen have chance to impress, says Gus Malzahn

Aug. 20, 2016

By Charles Goldberg
AuburnTigers.com

AUBURN, Ala. -- Gus Malzahn isn't naming names, but he says Auburn's signing class has a chance to help the Tigers, starting with the season-opener against Clemson on Sept. 3.

"There will be more that will help than won't. We recruited these guys to play," said Auburn's coach Saturday after a practice that featured officials willing to call penalties, the ongoing quarterback race and freshmen on special teams trying to catch a coach's eye.

History says Malzahn will play freshmen. He played 12 true freshmen in the season-opener last season, and, before the season was done, he played 15 true freshmen and seven redshirt freshmen. In all, the Tigers fielded 24 first-time starters.

And so it was another wave of freshmen got a look-see Saturday.

"We scrimmaged the young guys. A lot of the twos got a chance to show again what they could do. It's really more from a depth standpoint," Malzahn said.

Others will have a shot, including the freshman receiving group of Eli Stove, Kyle Davis, Marquis McClain and Nate Craig-Myers, as well as freshman running backs Kam Martin and Malik Miller. Throw in some defensive backs, defensive linemen such as Marlon Davidson and Derrick Brown and who knows who else, and you've got new players on your Auburn roster.

They helped Saturday. Malzahn said "our energy was really good" at the practice.

It was also a practice in which Sean White, Jeremy Johnson and John Franklin III continued their battle for the starting quarterback job.

"It's too good of a competition. We are going to let those guys compete a little longer and see what happens," Malzahn said.

"You can tell the intensity as it gets a little bit closer gets different each day, which I think is good. That would be ideal to name a starter at some point in the near future. We will see how that unfolds."




Malzahn said Auburn staged a situational practice to see how players performed at different stages of the games. That included the first-team offense against the first-team defense. But the practice was also devoted to the younger players, and to the special teams.

Also...

*Though dressed out, receiver Tony Stevens didn't go through drills. He's been slowed since hurting his leg last week.

"As a matter of fact, there were a handful of guys that didn't" practice, Malzahn said. "Really, our plan was to get everybody healthy by Tuesday and I expect everybody to be back Tuesday ready to go to have two weeks of practice. That was by design with some of the guys that were banged up today."

*Malzahn was coy on whether he'd script the first "10-12 plays" to start the Clemson game.

"I'm not telling."
How about the first five plays?
"I'm not telling that, either. We may script 20."
So you're saying you will script plays...
"I don't know. Maybe not."

Charles Goldberg is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @AUGoldMine