Just like that, Auburn’s first spring under Hugh Freeze is coming to an end.

The Tigers’ annual A-Day game is Saturday — the 15th practice of a spring season that began nearly six weeks ago — with the glorified scrimmage set for 1 p.m. at Jordan-Hare Stadium. While some often put a lot of stock into spring games, in reality they merely provide a glimpse of the bigger picture; they’re a snapshot of the entirety of a team’s 15 spring practices — but they provide some intrigue and offseason fodder regardless.

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Don’t expect a typical game format for Auburn’s first A-Day of Hugh Freeze era

That brings us to Saturday’s game, which will have a decidedly different flavor than spring games past. Freeze is switching up the format for A-Day. Instead of splitting the teams up and going ones against the twos for four quarters, this year’s format will be straight-up offense vs. defense, with a twist. The Tigers’ defense will be spotted a 24-0 lead to start the day, and the offense will have 60 minutes of running clock to try to make up that deficit.

Whichever side is ahead at the end of that hour will be declared the winner and receive a prize of sorts; Freeze suggested earlier in the week a steak dinner for the winning side and hot dogs for the losing side. Either way, it should be a swift day of action at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Ahead of the program’s first A-Day game of the Freeze era, here are five things to keep an eye on Saturday:

MVP watch

For a stretch a handful of years ago, there was a running joke that A-Day MVP honors were akin to the Madden curse or winning the Par 3 contest at The Masters. In other words: It didn’t bode well, typically, for a player’s prospects that fall.

That has changed, to an extent, in recent years. Robby Ashford was the offensive MVP last spring and wound up starting the majority of Auburn’s games at quarterback last fall. Tank Bigsby was the offensive MVP during the 2021 A-Day game and followed through with a 1,000-yard rushing campaign. There was no spring game in 2020 due to the pandemic. Seth Williams took home the honor in 2019 before his best season on the Plains (830 receiving yards and eight touchdowns) and the best by an Auburn receiver since Sammie Coates in 2013. Likewise on defense, there have been some notable MVPs on that side in recent years: Cam Riley last year, Derrick Brown in 2019, Nick Coe in 2018.

Point being, the A-Day MVP awards could portend bigger things for a player come the actual season. Given what we’ve heard about various players on each side of the ball this spring, here are a few players worth keeping an eye on as MVP candidates. Defensively: defensive end Jeffrey M’ba, defensive lineman Mosiah Nasili-Kite, Jack linebacker Keldric Faulk, linebacker Austin Keys and cornerback Kayin Lee. Offensively: running backs Damari Alston and Brian Battie (Freeze has said he doesn’t like his running backs taking too many hits in the spring, so it’s hard to envision Jarquez Hunter getting a great deal of snaps), tight end Rivaldo Fairweather, or any of the trio of quarterbacks.

Regarding the quarterbacks

Speaking of the quarterbacks, plenty of attention will understandably be on that position Saturday. Ashford, T.J. Finley and Holden Geriner have been vying for the starting job throughout the spring as Freeze and offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery thoroughly evaluate the position heading into Year 1.

Reps have been pretty evenly divided over the course of Auburn’s practices, with Ashford, Finley and Geriner all getting some run with the first-team offense at points. There have been some low points — Freeze hasn’t shied away from being blunt in his assessment of the quarterbacks’ struggles, most notably with the RPO aspect of the offense — and some watershed moments for each. Ashford, who was limited for a stretch with shoulder soreness, has improved his pocket presence and shown quieter footwork in the pocket. Finley’s accuracy and understanding of how to play within the system have progressed. Geriner’s downfield accuracy has also improved.

For as under the microscope as the quarterbacks will be on A-Day, it’s important to not read too much into their performances Saturday. Freeze has emphasized that this competition will wage into the fall (and possibly include a post-spring transfer addition if Auburn can find the right fit). True separation won’t be made on A-Day; the summer months will be crucial to the quarterback race, as the Tigers are still months away from identifying QB1.

Will any newcomers pop?

Not only will this be the first A-day for Auburn under Freeze and his staff, but it will be the first spring game for a number of newcomers on the Plains. The Tigers added a dozen transfers this offseason and had nine midyear enrollees (eight freshmen and JUCO transfer Izavion Miller) go through spring practices.

That’s about 28 percent of Auburn’s scholarship players this spring who are new to the program. Some are obvious plug-and-play additions, like the trio of transfer offensive linemen who have settled in at left tackle (Dillon Wade), center (Avery Jones) and right tackle (Gunner Britton). Some are depth pieces who will play key roles in the rotation, and others are freshmen looking to make an immediate impact in the SEC.

Will any of them truly pop on A-Day, though? That’s worth keeping an eye on. Certainly, those aforementioned offensive linemen will be important, though that’s a group that doesn’t get much shine (unless a killer block opens up a big play or they put a defender on his back). Some of the defensive linemen could make some noise in the trenches too, though they won’t get any true sacks with quarterbacks in non-contact jerseys. Still, there’s potential for some of the other new additions, specifically at skill spots, to make their names known to Auburn fans — guys like Battie (the South Florida running back transfer), Fairweather (the FIU tight end transfer), Nick Mardner (the rangy Cincinnati wide receiver transfer), linebacker Austin Keys (the Ole Miss transfer who has been working with the first-team defense) and freshman cornerback Kayin Lee (who has turned heads throughout the spring at a position lacking numbers at the moment). Two others worth monitoring: Faulk, the previously mentioned freshman Jack linebacker, and freshman offensive lineman Connor Lew, who could be an important depth piece up front this fall.

How creative will the offense get?

Freeze spent a good portion of his Monday press conference trying to temper expectations for A-Day, which he believes isn’t the best setting to get the most out of the final practice of the spring.

“Unrealistic expectations lead to frustration,” Freeze said. “And so I just don’t want anybody to be frustrated.”

With the game streamed on SEC Network+ and widely available for viewing consumption, Freeze doesn’t want to tip his hand too much heading into his first season back in the SEC. After all, this is a completely new staff, and the unknown provides a big of an advantage for Freeze — however limited it may be — heading into the fall. He doesn’t want to put too much on film for opponents before then, and Auburn’s offense is still in the early stages of installing Freeze and Montgomery’s combined system.

So, fans probably shouldn’t expect too many bells and whistles from the offense Saturday. As he said Monday, Auburn still doesn’t quite know who it is from an offensive standpoint; it’s very much a work in progress. Still, he wants to put on a good show for the fans who show up at Jordan-Hare Stadium and pay to watch the team scrimmage, so you never know — maybe the Tigers will have something up their sleeve to make it worth the price of admission.

Though, with rain in the forecast Saturday, the weather could dictate just how limited Auburn is offensively.

“We’re probably, headed into the next year, are going to be quite good at getting in a huddle and slowing things down,” Freeze said. “You might see that Saturday. Is that who we really are as an identity? I don’t know. I’ve never been that. But you might see some of that. All the coaches do it, and maybe I’m falling into that, but I really just don’t want to show too much of what we think we might be really good at. That was, truthfully, just me being candid with them.

“They’re going to see us hit and they’re going to see us tackle, and they’re going see people run the ball and people throw the ball. Will it be exactly the same that they see this fall? I sure hope not. I hope it’s better and probably a little different.”

How much special teams work will get done?

Special teams action is typically pretty limited for spring games; kickoffs and punts aren’t run live, and the special teams MVP — at Auburn, at least — historically goes to the kicker (that’s been the case each of the last eight years).

This spring, Auburn hasn’t shown too much on the special teams front in the portions of practice that have been open to the media. There was only one day when the Tigers even trotted out return options for kickoffs. There has been no mention as to whether Auburn will even work on kickoff or punt return situations Saturday, but if it does, make note of who gets those reps. It’s early, of course, and most of that will get sorted out in fall camp, but it provides an early look at who the top options in the return game are. One of them, certainly, will be Battie, a former 2021 All-America return specialist at USF.

As for the kicking game, redshirt freshman Alex McPherson will experience his first A-Day after joining the program last summer. McPherson, the former No. 1 kicker in the country, took over starting duties down the stretch last season after Anders Carlson’s season-ending injury. He should get a chance to show off his powerful leg Saturday in what will be a preview of his first full season as the Tigers’ kicker—the official start of a new era after nearly a decade of the Carlson kicking dynasty on the Plains.

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