AUBURN — Auburn football was back in Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday.

It was a dress rehearsal this time — the first scrimmage of fall camp — but it served as an important step in the Tigers preparing to open their season Aug. 31 against Alabama A&M.

Practice began with the position groups warming up individually before shifting into a stretching period. Defensive coordinator DJ Durkin walked around with a football during this time, weaving through the rows of defenders stretching and tossing the ball to each of them.

Auburn players did some seven-on-seven work ahead of the 11-on-11 portion of practice. None of it was fully live, as the play was usually blown dead once a defender made contact with the ballcarrier — this is commonly known as "thud," a method designed to limit injuries — but some plays did end with players on the ground.

From general observations to specific notes about players, here is what we observed during the two-hour practice:

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Injury updates, notes on position battles, general observations

• Let's start with injury updates. Transfer receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith (ankle) and senior cornerback Keionte Scott (thigh) continue to work away from the rest of the team. They were dressed out in pads and in uniform, but they were off to the side doing various running exercises. This has been the case for the last couple of practices open to reporters.

• A bit more on the injury front: Redshirt freshman cornerback JC Hart continues to sport a non-contact jersey, though he participated with the rest of the team. Freshman CB A'Mon Lane-Ganus began Saturday's practice with a non-contact jersey on, but he took it off at some point.

• Laquan Robinson, a junior college transfer who joined the Tigers as a safety this offseason, has been working with the linebackers. That continued Saturday, and his position has been updated on the physical roster given to reporters.

• Arguably the biggest position battle of fall camp is for the starting safety spot next to Texas transfer Jerrin Thompson. It's a two-man race between junior Caleb Wooden and redshirt freshman Sylvester Smith. Wooden repped with the first-team defense initially Saturday, but Smith also got some work there as practice wore on.

• Another position battle is to be the first CB off the bench to spell Scott and sophomore Kayin Lee. It appears Alabama transfer Antonio Kite and Hart are competing for that role. With Scott hobbled, Kite got the first crack at first-team reps with the defense. Hart also got some first-team work later on.

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• The offense and defense had three drives in the seven-on-seven period, and the offense found the end zone each of those times. The first featured quarterback Payton Thorne finding Bryce Cain for a touchdown over the middle, the second saw Holden Geriner hit Perry Thompson for a contested snag in the end zone and the third was a pass from Hank Brown to tight end Micah Riley.

• Things changed in the defense's favor when practice moved to 11-on-11. There were 15 drives during this portion of practice, and the offense ended with touchdowns on four of them. The first-team defense looked especially impressive, with the lone TD it gave up coming on a circus catch from Malcolm Simmons in the end zone. Wooden was in coverage on Simmons and appeared to break the pass up, but Simmons stayed with it and collected the caromed ball for a score.

• Linebacker Eugene Asante had a pretty big hit on running back Jarquez Hunter, who was trying to catch a pass on the first drive of 11-on-11. Asante's pop caused an incompletion and forced the offense to stall. Perhaps that set the tone.

• It took the offense nine drives to find the end zone in 11-on-11. The first score came via a rush by sophomore running back Jeremiah Cobb, but it was set up by a deep bomb from Brown's arm and into Perry Thompson's hands. It was a 65-yard pass to put the Tigers in the red zone.

• While on the topic of touchdowns, let's describe the ones not yet mentioned. In addition to the bobbling grab Simmons had, he also capped practice with a 75-yard catch and run for a score. He caught a deep pass over the middle from Geriner, made a defender miss and jogged into the end zone. The other touchdown was off a blown coverage in which Geriner found Cain wide open.

• Cain, Simmons and Thompson, three freshmen receivers, were all impressive in their own ways. Cain was consistent, Simmons seemed to often be involved in big plays (notably with the first-team offense at times) and Thompson had a few contested catches that were impressive. Thompson nearly had a leaping grab in the end zone during 11-on-11, but he was forced out of bounds.

• Cam Coleman, the fourth member of Auburn's freshman receiving corps, didn't get the ball thrown his way much. He did make a nice catch down the sideline, but he was ruled out of bounds.

• The defense, particularly the first unit, presented a variety of looks and pressures to keep the offense guessing. It seemed to work well, as did the heavy rotation along the defensive line. Auburn is going to need to keep legs fresh there to have success this season, and early results are promising.

• Buck linebackers Jalen McLeod and Keyron Crawford were each credited with at least one sack.

A closer look at the quarterbacks

• Auburn used all four of its scholarship quarterbacks Saturday, with Thorne, Geriner and Brown getting drives in both seven-on-seven and 11-on-11. True freshman Walker White got the third drive of the 11-on-11 portion of practice.

• Thorne will be Auburn's starter come Week 1, so it's no surprise he took all the first-team reps. He didn't have any major plays in a positive or negative way, but he showed off his wheels a couple times and had a few nice passes. He did, however, miss tight end Luke Deal for what would've likely been a touchdown. The offense tried to use some misdirection to get Deal open deep, which worked, but Thorne's throw was slightly out of Deal's reach down the field.

• Geriner is in a battle with Brown to be Thorne's backup. It looks like Geriner is in the lead, or at least he was going into Saturday; he was the second QB to trot onto the field during both seven-on-seven and 11-on-11. Geriner had touchdown throws to Simmons and Cain during 11-on-11 and Thompson during seven-on-seven.

• Brown is clearly not shy in trying to stretch the field. He was responsible for the the deep ball uncorked to Thompson, which finally got the offense going. And he had another deep ball intended for Thompson that led to a pass interference penalty on Hart. Another shot taken by Brown ended up with freshman safety Kaleb Harris picking him off, the only turnover on the day.

• White was inconsistent, which is to be expected for a freshman. He overthrew a few receivers, including a ball intended for Simmons that would've likely resulted in a touchdown, but he also had the best throw of the day, which was a shot down the field intended for walk-on receiver Dylan Gentry. It was on the money. It's tough to be completely sure without replay being available, but either Gentry simply couldn't hang on or the defender in coverage got his arm in at the last second.

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

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football: Observations from first scrimmage of fall camp