A new day gets underway on the Plains this week as Auburn opens its first set of practices under first-year head coach Hugh Freeze.

The Tigers will open spring practice Monday with the first of 15 practices, ultimately culminating in the A-Day spring game on April 8 at Jordan-Hare Stadium. It will be an intriguing spring around the program as Freeze and his staff get their first up-close look at the team they’ve inherited and will be tasked with revitalizing following the disastrous tenure of Bryan Harsin, who had a losing record in each of his two seasons with the Tigers.

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With a new staff, of course, comes new opportunity. Plenty of positions will be up for grabs for the Tigers throughout the offseason, and how many of those starting jobs shake out will truly start to take shape during spring practices. With that in mind, let’s take a look at five position battles to keep an eye on over the course of spring practices:

1. Quarterback

This one is obvious, no? The biggest question facing Auburn this offseason revolves around the quarterback position: Who will emerge as the Tigers’ answer at the most important position on the field, and is he already on campus? Freeze and offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery — as well as lead offensive analyst Kent Austin — have a strong track record of developing quarterbacks, and this spring will largely focus on just how far Auburn’s returning crop at the position can come along under the new staff as they fully assess the personnel and try to shape the offense around their skillsets.

The Tigers have three scholarship quarterbacks available for spring practices: Robby Ashford, T.J. Finley and Holden Geriner. Ashford finished last season as the Tigers’ starter and showed flashes of dynamic playmaking and toughness, but he managed to complete just 49.2 percent of his passes for 1,613 yards, 6.5 yards per pass attempt and as many touchdowns (seven) as interceptions. He also showed an ability to extend and create plays with his legs, rushing for another 709 yards and seven scores. Ashford has expressed excitement about getting to be developed by Freeze, and the new coach certainly took notice of some of the plays Ashford made in last season’s finale against Alabama. But is he the answer at quarterback for Auburn? It remains to be seen.

Finley opened last season as Auburn’s starter, winning the job in fall camp and starting the first three games of the year, but an early-season shoulder injury sidelined him, and he only played in four games for the year. He completed 62.3 percent of his 53 attempts for 431 yards, averaging 8.1 yards per attempt but throwing just one touchdown compared to four interceptions. It will be interesting to see how Finley figures into the picture this spring, and whether he feels he has a future with the team after the coaching change, or if he tries to reassess his options after the spring semester. Then there’s Geriner, who appeared in just one game last season as a true freshman but is a talented former four-star prospect with a strong arm. He was hand-picked by the former staff to anchor the 2022 class, but could he find a fresh start and opportunity under Freeze and Co.?

2. Both offensive tackle spots

Offensive line is far from the flashiest position on the field, but it’s certainly one of the most important—and more importantly for Auburn, it’s a group that has faced its share of questions in recent years thanks to insufficient recruiting, underdevelopment and underperformance in the trenches. It’s an area that Freeze and his staff, led by offensive line coach Jake Thornton and offensive analyst Joe Bernardi, have worked tirelessly to address in the two-month offseason sprint that included both signing periods and the first transfer portal window.

After losing its top offensive tackles from last season—Austin Troxell, Kilian Zierer and Brenden Coffeyy, who combined to start every game at both left and right tackle—Auburn is working with a relatively clean slate at the position. The Tigers return inexperienced underclassmen Garner Langlo, Colby Smith and E.J. Harris, but the real focus on the two tackle spots will be on a trio of new additions: junior college transfer Izavion Miller and portal pickups Dillon Wade and Gunner Britton.

Miller, the No. 2 JUCO offensive tackle prospect in the 2023 class, is highly regarded by Auburn’s staff and will compete at tackle, but with his size—6-foot-6 and 320 pounds—he could play multiple spots along the line. Wade comes to Auburn from Tulsa, where he played for Montgomery and started 16 games over the last two seasons, including all 12 at left tackle in 2022. Britton, a transfer from Western Kentucky, has 18 starts under his belt, including all 14 for the Hilltoppers last season when he split time between right and left tackle. His first six starts last year were on the right side of the line before he shifted to left tackle for the remainder of the year. Expect these three to vie for the two spots, with Auburn likely rotating them throughout spring practices to see which combination works best.

3. Jack linebacker

This is the new name for what was formerly known as the edge position in Auburn’s defense the last two years, with new defensive coordinator Ron Roberts preferring to call it the Jack linebacker spot—a hybrid role in which the player can play off the line standing up and drop into coverage or line up with his hand down in the dirt as a pass-rusher; it’s the new edge rusher role that will need someone to emerge following the departures of Derick Hall, Eku Leota and Marcus Bragg.

Roberts is expected to personally oversee this position group this season, and he’ll head into spring with a trio of top options but no real proven commodity viewed as the favorite to start here: Vanderbilt transfer Elijah McAllister, redshirt sophomore Dylan Brooks and true freshman early enrollee Keldric Faulk.

McAllister touts the most experience among the group, with 36 career appearances and 12 starts to his name from his time at Vanderbilt, where he was a two-time captain for the Commodores. Despite the ample in-game experience, McAllister has yet to put together a true breakthrough season. He has 65 career tackles, with just 6.5 for a loss and 2.5 sacks, and his most productive season at Vanderbilt came in 2019, when he had 26 tackles, with 4.5 for a loss and 2.5 sacks. Brooks is the only returning player at the position for Auburn. After redshirting in 2021, he appeared in 10 games last season—seeing his playing time increase after Leota’s season-ending pectoral injury—and finished the year with six total tackles, including a sack. Faulk, meanwhile, is the highest-rated signee in Auburn’s 2023 class after flipping from Florida State on signing day. He was a top-75 player in the country coming out of high school and should have an opportunity to immediately compete at Jack.

4. X-receiver

Auburn lost a lot of experience at the outside receiver spot following the departure of Shedrick Jackson this offseason, but for as much experience as Jackson had—53 appearances and 26 starts—he was never a go-to option in the passing game. Jackson finished his career with 66 catches for 874 yards and a touchdown, and now Auburn will try to replace him — with an opportunity to reshape the role of the outside receiver in this new-look offensive scheme.

There are two players to keep an eye on here this spring: sophomore Camden Brown and grad transfer Nick Mardner. Brown was the talk of fall camp last year, but the big-bodied receiver finished his freshman season with just nine receptions for 123 yards and a pair of touchdowns. His most productive game was against Arkansas, when he had four catches for 83 yards and a score, showcasing some of the explosive potential he brings to the outside. Mardner, meanwhile, provides an experienced veteran to the room—and one who has a history with new wide receivers coach Marcus Davis. Mardner, who spent last season at Cincinnati, played under Davis at Hawaii in 2021 and had his most productive college season: 46 catches for 913 yards and five touchdowns. Will they be able to reproduce that at Auburn this season? That’s a big question looming for Auburn, which has lacked a true go-to receiver and downfield threat the last two seasons since Seth Williams’ departure for the NFL.

5. Center

Auburn bid farewell to its two most experienced centers after last season: Nick Brahms retired before the start of the season and served as a de facto GA for the year, while Brandon Council finally exhausted his eligibility after starting the final eight games of the season at center for the Tigers.

Heading into a new age of Auburn football, there should be two top candidates vying for the starting center job this season—one who returns starting experience on the Plains and one who has a considerable amount of experience at the Group of 5 level: Tate Johnson and Avery Jones. Johnson returns after starting the first four games of the season for the Tigers last fall before sustaining an elbow injury that sidelined him the rest of the year. It was Johnson’s first substantial playing experience, and the now-redshirt junior had his share of growing pains. Even with Johnson back healthy this year, Auburn chose to address the center position in the transfer portal, bringing in the top available center on the market in Jones, who spent the last three seasons at Eastern Carolina.

A former four-star prospect who signed with North Carolina out of high school, Jones became a fixture along the line for ECU, starting 32 games over the last three seasons, including all 13 at center in 2022, when he was one of the nation’s top pass-protectors. The 6-foot-4, 288-pounder should be the favorite to win this position this offseason.

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.