AUBURN, Alabama (EETV) - The Auburn Tigers gave their fans a peek into what next season will look like with Auburn’s annual A-Day game today.
Auburn’s A-Day ended in dramatic fashion with true freshman Holden Geriner having the chance to win it on an extra two-point play, but he wasn’t able to connect on his pass to Landen King.
“That’s really been the theme of spring, is competition.’” Coach Bryan Harsin said on the last couple of plays of A-Day. “ It was good to sit back and watch our guys go out there and play,”Harsin said.
Auburn’s starters took the win today scoring ten points to the second team’s nine. Tj Finely got the start at quarterback for the first-team offense and was able to score on their first possession with a couple of big plays made by wide receiver Malcolm Johnson Jr and tight end John Samuel Shenker.
Finley went 11 of 19 and had 137 passing yards with one touchdown pass being to Malcolm Johnson Jr.
“ Some positive and negative’s, there’s always some things to get better at. I think my guys on the outside did a great job of going up and making plays”, Tj Finley said.
Robby Ashford came out as the starter for the second-team offense with the hard task of going up against the first team’s defense.
Ashford started off the second half hot with a pair of darts to Capers but was held short from big plays made by Cam Riley and Wesley Steiner on the second and third down.
Robby Ashford went 11 of 13 and 127 passing yards. Ashford was able to connect on several big plays with wide receiver Zevian Capers, Shedrick Jackson, and Tyler Fromm.
“He’s very athletic, you guys could see that today,” Harsin said.
The running back room was quiet today totaling only 65 yards rushing, with Tank Bigsby and Sean Jackson leading the way. The running backs were also present in the receiving aspect of the offense with five catches and 41 yards total, which is good to see.
“We’ve been running the same things against each other, But I also think our D-line is playing well”. Harsin said on the assessment of Auburns rushing.
The first and second-team defense played great today totaling 43 solo tackles, four sacks, and eight TFLs. Wesley Steiner led the defense in tackles with six total tackles and four solos.
Steiner looks to work on his tackling form and play recognition going into the summer.
“A lot of work to do, I would say the last fifteen practices I’m proud of our guys, they worked hard,” Harsin said. Going into summer Harsin looks for the team to execute and take what they learned from the spring and carry it over to the summer.
Auburn begins their 2022 season at home against the Mercer Bears on September 3rd.
