Everything we heard about Auburn football's first fall scrimmage

From the QB performances to the freshmen and defensive units that stood out, here's what we gathered from the Tigers' return to Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday night.

QB Robby Ashford (Todd Van Emst/Auburn Athletics)

When Auburn took the field inside Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday night for its first fall scrimmage, it was three weeks away — almost to the exact minute — from its season opener against Mercer.

For Bryan Harsin and his team, there’s a lot that still has to be decided between now and then. What went down under those bright stadium lights will go a long way in making those important decisions.

“I thought the effort was there,” Harsin said after the scrimmage. “Urgency, we talked about that, that can always be a little bit better. But it was the first scrimmage, you know? There’s a little bit of nerves and being in the stadium. Guys are excited. Some of the new players who haven’t been in the stadium, they look forward to that.”

Some of those JHS first-timers made big plays in the scrimmage. Two of the three quarterbacks battling for the starting job are relative newcomers to the venue, too. And some important Tigers who didn’t get to finish the 2021 season on the field made the most of their returns.

Auburn focused on situational work during the scrimmage, rotating a lot of players between the three units and letting them go at it in certain scenarios. The running game was emphasized, as expected. There were specific times where the Tigers worked on red-zone and goal-line opportunities.

Here’s what we were able to gather about what all went down in the first scrimmage, starting with the all-important questions on the quarterbacks.

The main event: How the quarterbacks performed

During his opening thoughts on the scrimmage, Harsin talked about — in order — the play of T.J. Finley, Robby Ashford and Zach Calzada. And, based on everything we heard about the scrimmage, that would be a good way to rank how the top three quarterbacks performed Saturday night.