Auburn football will hold its annual spring game, otherwise known as A-Day, on Saturday at noon CT at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
This year's format will be much different from years past. Normally, A-Day would consist of an intrasquad scrimmage. However, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze explains that the usual format does not fit this era of college football. He explained what fans can expect to see during his Thursday press conference.
“I hope (the fans) are not disappointed. I don’t think it’s wise for us to go out there and beat each other up. We’re already kind of banged up. It’ll be a normal practice like today, truthfully, if you got to see today. There will be some indo, skelly, and then our young guys will have a little live period and then we’re going to end with what we call redzone lockout, which will be a live period. First one to 18 wins. Offense gets the ball on the 25, you score a touchdown with an extra point, that’s seven. The defense stops you and you kick a field goal, that’s three points for the offense and four points for the defense. Miss the field goal, the defense gets seven or a stop somehow or turnover, they get seven. The first one to 18 wins that, and then end with an overtime period where we practice the overtime stuff. That’s what you can kind of expect. There will be a skelly drive a period or two where we have another chance to do some things where we are hopefully not too at risk to get injured. But we’ll end with that redzone lockout stuff going into an overtime period.”
Despite the new-look A-Day format, our writers still have plenty of thoughts leading up to Saturday's action. From quarterbacks to win totals, here is what Auburn Wire writers Brian Hauch, Phillip Jordan, and Taylor Jones are looking for ahead of Saturday's scrimmage at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
The new A-Day format is a sign of the times
A-Day will have a new format this season, which will feature a “one-hour” practice instead of the traditional scrimmage. How do you feel about the change?
BH:While it’s unfortunate, I get it. I would have loved to see Deuce Knight lead an offense against Jackson Arnold on the other side, but the practice still serves as a nice exhibition for the fans making the trip to Auburn. If Hugh Freeze’s team ends up winning 10 or more games this year nobody should care.
PJ:It is just part of the changing landscape of college football and college sports. College football coaches by their nature can be paranoid about other teams trying to steal their players and tampering with the transfer portal. The fans are getting the bad side of the deal and losing the excitement of the game-like atmosphere of the A-Day Game.
TJ:Fans will miss out on their fix of college football competition in the spring. However, it is understandable why programs are searching for alternatives to the traditional spring format. Coaches will limit injuries while protecting themselves from possible poaching. It will be interesting to see if this is the new normal, or if spring games slowly fade away.
New year, new QB room
Auburn will have a brand new quarterback room this season with Jackson Arnold, Ashton Daniels, and Deuce Knight in competition for the starting role. Which QB do you see winning the job out of spring?
BH:Jackson Arnold should absolutely be pencilled in as the starting quarterback against Baylor at the end of August. Even if Knight lights the world on fire, Arnold brings the Tigers' offense something ...
