After Auburn quarterback Robby Ashford scored his first of three rushing touchdowns in Saturday’s 59-14 win over UMass, he quickly returned to the Tigers’ sideline, where he was met by a leaping Payton Thorne in celebration.

And while Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze is happy there’s something worth celebrating, he wishes Ashford and Thorne could come up with a more stationary celebration.

“I do wish they’d quit jumping up (when celebrating). When they jump up together, I don’t like that at all,” Freeze said in his press conference Monday. “I think both of them could go down with a sprained ankle. I mean, why are we doing that? That makes no sense. But they seem to enjoy it.”

Obviously, Freeze doesn’t want anyone on his roster coming up with a bum ankle – but certainly not one of his quarterbacks.

After watching the way Auburn’s offense operated Saturday and then hearing how Freeze talked about how his offense operated Saturday, an injury to either Thorne or Ashford could erase a sizeable dimension of the Tigers’ offense.

Freeze and Auburn played three quarterbacks against UMass with Thorne, Ashford and redshirt freshman Holden Geriner all seeing action. And that might’ve been expected considering how quickly the game got out of hand.

However, the Tigers’ initial quarterback rotation wasn’t the result of Auburn running away with the football game.

In Auburn’s second offensive possession, after Thorne had piloted the Tigers inside the UMass 25-yard line, Freeze called on Ashford to command the offense the rest of the way.

While a holding penalty and a few nice stops from Don Brown’s defense forced Auburn to settle for a 37-yard field goal, it became clear — in just the second drive of the season — that Freeze wasn’t lying when he said Ashford was going to have a role in the Tigers’ offense all along.

“You saw it. As soon as we got down there, we put him in. So that’s on the call sheet. That’s the plan,” Freeze said Monday. “It wasn’t something that I just said: ‘Hey, how about let’s try Robby here.’ It’s planned.”

Ashford earned himself the nickname “Redzone Robby” on Saturday, trotting onto the field when the Tigers were approaching the UMass endzone and making quick work of the Minutemen defense with his legs.

Ashford’s three rushing touchdowns were the most of anyone on Auburn’s roster.

“Every press conference I have been in, I have said ‘Robby Ashford is vital to us winning football games.’,” Freeze said. “I don’t know how else to say it. He is vital to us winning football games.”

When Freeze named Thorne — who transferred in from Michigan State in May — Auburn’s starter on Aug. 17, Freeze said the conversation wasn’t a “slam dunk” with the rest of the quarterback room.

On Saturday evening after the win, Ashford alluded to that a bit when asked about adjusting from being Auburn’s starter last year to now being the “backup” — something we now know is a loose term.

“The first few days after I found out, it was hard. I was kinda down on myself, kinda like, ‘Am I good enough?’ It didn’t feel like I was good enough. Had a few rough days,” Ashford admitted. “I just give all the credit to the big man upstairs, because he’s kept me grounded. He’s kept me being able to get through this and be that guy I know I can be for this team, even if I’m not the starter right now.”

Despite going home and questioning if he belonged at Auburn, Ashford returned to practice each day, kept his head down and worked.

After the Tigers’ second scrimmage of fall camp on Aug. 19, Freeze said Ashford was coming off a strong showing in the scrimmage, as well as his best three practices.

Ashford stood out to Freeze so much that Auburn’s first-year head coach went as far as to say that if Ashford “continues to play like this, Payton’s going to have to play really well”. That was said just two days after Freeze assured reporters that Thorne was going to be Auburn’s starter, barring any injuries.

But perhaps all along Auburn’s offense wasn’t going to have a traditional “starting quarterback” — You know, the guy that starts every game and plays every snap unless an injury gets in the way or the ball game is well in hand.

Instead, Freeze was prepared to hear John Madden’s quote, “If you’ve got two quarterbacks, you’ve got none,” and reply with a surefooted, “Hold my beverage.”

Like Freeze said Monday, using Ashford on Saturday was in the gameplan.

Following the win, Thorne told reporters he wasn’t shocked when Ashford trotted out onto the field in the redzone. It was a package they had worked on all week at practice.

“When Robby was running out there, obviously I’m running off,” Thorne said. “When he gets to the end zone, I’m obviously excited. I don’t really care how we get in the end zone, as long as we’re scoring points.”

And it won’t always look the same, Freeze said.

While Saturday proved Ashford undoubtedly has the ability to alter football games and he is, in fact, too talented to keep off the field, it’ll look different every week as Freeze and offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery play to what the opposing defense gives them to work with.

The good news is, Ashford and Thorne appear more than willing to accept whatever their roles will be on any given Saturday — so long as it means Auburn wins the football game.

“They’re either doing a really good job of faking it, or they’re getting along pretty well and are buying into how do we help the team win?,” Freeze said. “And I hope that’s the case. I believe it is, and I hope that continues.”

Freeze just wishes that his quarterback tandem could find a less acrobatic and safer way of celebrating. Because it doesn’t sounds like he’s axing his two-quarterback plan anytime soon.

“I know people in this world and day in time (think), you know, you can’t play two quarterback,” Freeze said. “Well, I don’t know, maybe they’re right. But we’re 1-0, and if we go 2-0 doing it, we’ll keep doing it.”