Observations: Everything we heard about Auburn's second fall scrimmage
Observations: Everything we heard about Auburn's second fall scrimmage
Shane Hooks stands out, Payton Thorne settles in and an OL makes a big move as the Tigers are now two weeks away from game time.
WR Shane Hooks (Jamie Holt/Auburn Athletics)
With just two weeks left until the start of the season, few people seem more ready for real football than Hugh Freeze.
On Saturday, when his Auburn team returned to a cavernous Jordan-Hare Stadium for its second scrimmage of fall camp, he was already wishing the stands were packed with fans.
“The two trips we’ve made into the stadium in my eyes — and maybe because it’s just the size of the stadium — but we seem flat,” Freeze said. “Practices this week were really, really good. I thought the energy was good. I didn’t sense that same energy (Saturday).
“Maybe it changes when the stadium is full, I don’t know. But when we get a chance to go in that stadium and play, there's got to be some juice.”
And while Auburn’s players might not have been in full game shape yet, it sounded like the SEC officiating crew at the scrimmage was in midseason form.
“Good God,” Freeze said. “We had SEC officials today, and I've got to watch the film… but, I don’t know if they hadn't done anything this year, and they were flag-happy.”
All of the yellow inside the stadium, both from the officials’ flags and the non-contact jerseys on players nursing injuries, wasn’t a good sight for Freeze and his staff. The Tigers have a good bit they can improve over the next couple of weeks, before the season opener against UMass.
But the Tigers still had several standout players and position groups in a second fall scrimmage that officially signals the end of fall camp and puts the Tigers into an extended game-week mode.
Here’s everything we learned about what happened inside Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday, starting with a show-stealing wide receiver.
WR Shane Hooks (Zach Bland/Auburn Athletics)
“Hollywood” Hooks puts on a show
Saturday felt like an important time for a wide receiver group looking for real separation at this point in the preseason. Freeze rattled off eight wideouts who could be a part of the rotation, but it hasn’t felt like there has been a clear-cut standout there in fall camp.
Then Shane Hooks put on a show. The transfer receiver from Jackson State had six receptions and multiple touchdowns Saturday, including one from Payton Thorne where he rose up and made an incredible one-handed catch.
“One of the touchdowns he caught, if it were a game, it would be SportsCenter tonight,” Freeze said. “One of those tight, one-handed, back-of-the-end-zone grabs. He had a really solid day.”
Freeze also said Hooks had some really nice runs after the catch. One of those — again from Thorne — went for monster yards, flipping the field for Auburn’s offense.
Hooks is the most established wide receiver in the room for Auburn, as he had 635 receiving yards and six touchdowns at Ohio before posting 974 yards and 12 touchdowns in two seasons at FCS-level Jackson State. By comparison, Ja’Varrius Johnson has 767 career receiving yards, while Koy Moore has 562.
The main thing with Hooks is his transition to the SEC level. Freeze likes Hooks’ talent, but he wants the “big target” to step his intensity up as he makes the jump to the best conference in college football.
“I wish he played the game a little faster,” Freeze said. “We’ve got to get him to do that. I think some of that comes from maybe not playing against the speed of this level yet. If we can get him convinced to run every route and knowing, ‘Dude, you can get a break. Run this route like the game depends upon it.’”
Auburn needs more receivers to emerge as go-to threats this season, and it might take a few games before that happens.
But, right now, it feels like Hooks has the best chance to be one of those top targets when the Tigers open the campaign against UMass in two weeks.
RT Izavion Miller (Austin Perryman/Auburn Athletics)