Auburn football's defense shows promise and other observations from preseason practice

AUBURN — Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze's voice blared over the speakers at Thursday's practice.

To finish the day, the Tigers were to run a two-minute drill, Freeze instructed. The first-team offense, led by newly named starting quarterback Payton Thorne, was to go up against the first-team defense. Thorne had 1:32 and one timeout to work with.

Methodically, the offense made its way down the field. Thorne scrambled for a couple of first downs, Jarquez Hunter had a big catch-and-run off a check down and Florida International transfer tight end Rivaldo Fairweather had an 8-yard catch to put the offense on the 3-yard line with 11 seconds remaining. It was third down.

The offense elected to pass, an incomplete ball out of the back of the end zone. Then on fourth down, Thorne fired a short slant into the chest of Shane Hooks, who boxed out Nehemiah Pritchett for the game-winning catch, or so he thought.

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There was a procedural penalty called on the offense. Backed up five yards, Thorne took the snap and lofted a ball to Fairweather, who had senior safety Jaylin Simpson draped all over him. Simpson forced the incompletion for the win, took his helmet off and celebrated as his defensive teammates mobbed him.

It ended what was a loaded media viewing period, which typically lasts about 30 minutes but was closer to 90 minutes Thursday. Beyond the adrenaline-filled ending, here are some key observations.

Offensive line taking shape

For the second straight practice, Jeremiah Wright was the first-group left guard with Dillon Wade at left tackle and Avery Jones at center flanking him on either side. The usual suspects were at right guard and right tackle in Kam Stutts and Gunner Britton, respectively.

An interesting twist, however, was Britton getting some work at left guard later in practice. In his place at right tackle with the first group was Izavion Miller, who usually sees action at that spot with the second group.

Jaden Muskrat continues to prove to be a worthy get in the transfer portal, as he was seeing snaps as the backup left tackle. Tate Johnson, who was previously battling Wright for starting reps at LG, was with the second group of offensive linemen.

Pass rush does well

During an 11-on-11 period with the offense backed up in its own end zone, the pass rush looked promising.

Practices are virtually played at full speed, but no one is brought to the ground, especially quarterbacks. Running backs and receivers are sometimes wrapped up, but QBs see as minimal contact as possible, for obvious injury concerns.

For that reason, it's sometimes difficult to see who should be credited for a sack, or if there would have been a sack at all — Robby Ashford, for example, has shown a knack for escaping precarious situations in live games.

It appeared Vanderbilt transfer Elijah McAllister had at least one sack, and potentially two.

Rivaldo Fairweather shows freak athleticism

Though he couldn't come down with a catch against Simpson to end practice, Fairweather showed off some of his freakish athleticism during one-on-one periods.

There was one catch in particular against freshman safety Sylvester Smith that featured Fairweather running deep down the sideline. The pass was placed in a back-shoulder fashion, and Fairweather contorted his body in a way to get his left hand on the ball and haul it in one-handed.

Also in a one-on-one period, Ja'Varrius Johnson hit Simpson with a double move and came down with a deep pass and DJ James locked up Camden Brown on a short in-breaking route. Brown came back later in practice with an impressive win on a jump ball near the sideline in some team-on-team action and true freshman DB Colton Hood had an aggressive pass breakup against Nick Marnder.

Keldric Faulk in non-contact jersey

After being somewhat limited during Tuesday's practice, freshman edge defender Keldric Faulk was spotted Thursday in a yellow non-contact jersey. Austin Keys and Malcolm Johnson Jr. are both dealing with shoulder injuries and both were in yellow jerseys. Koy Moore, still nursing an ankle issue, was in one, too.

Not in a non-contact jersey was Appalachian State transfer Jalen McLeod. However, McLeod appeared limited and didn't participate fully.

Wesley Steiner was in a normal jersey after being in a yellow one Tuesday.

First group offense and defense

During the two-minute period to end practice and throughout the day, the first groups on either side of the ball were as follows:

OFFENSE

QB: Payton Thorne

RB: Jarquez Hunter

WR: Shane Hooks, Omari Kelly and Jay Fair (multiple receivers cycled)

TE: Rivaldo Fairweather

OL (left to right): Dillon Wade, Jeremiah Wright, Avery Jones, Kam Stutts and Gunner Britton

DEFENSE

DL: Mosiah Nasili-Kite, Marcus Harris and Jayson Jones

Jack: Elijah McAllister (Stephen Sings V, too)

LBs: Eugene Asante and Larry Nixon III (Cam Riley, too)

Nickel: Keionte Scott

CBs: DJ James and Nehemiah Pritchett

S: Jaylin Simpson and Zion Puckett

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football: Defense makes plays, offensive transfers flash in practice