Auburn at least partially answered its ongoing saga surrounding running back Jarquez Hunter as he started for Auburn on Saturday against Cal.

He participated in the pregame Tiger Walk as Auburn entered California Memorial Stadium. He warmed up with the rest of the team in pads before the game, initially coming onto the field with Auburn’s punt returners. And on the game’s first offensive series, Hunter was the first running back on the field.

“We’re just glad to have him back,” Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said. “I’m not going to discuss the process. Glad to have him back. Thought he looked rusty though.”

Hunter’s situation traces back to a sex tape leaked on Twitter that allegedly showed Hunter. Auburn’s statement about indefinite suspensions came soon after. The Montgomery Advertiser reported that an Auburn spokesperson said the suspensions related to “videos that were posted on social media.” Allegedly, other Auburn players were involved with the video.

But the Auburn statement did not state which players would face suspensions.

Head coach Hugh Freeze has faced the question of Hunter’s status repeatedly, including his press conference Monday to preview Auburn’s trip to play Cal in Berkeley in Week 2.

His answers have largely been dodging the question or a no comment.

“The availability of a lot of players is up in the air, so like normally I’d rather not even comment on all of them,” Freeze said during his Monday press conference when asked about Hunter. “We’ve got a long list. From Nick Mardner to Austin Keys to Jalen (Mcleod) to (Nehemiah) Pritchett. All of those guys hopefully can have a good week. We can really, really use some of those guys.”

Hunter did not play in Auburn’s season opener against UMass. He also walked with the team in the Tiger Walk that day, but walked onto the field in street clothes for warm-ups and did not play.

The day after Auburn’s win over UMass running back Damari Alston posted a tweet reading “What the wrist tape say.” In a photo attached to the tweet, his wrist tape had “Free 27″ written on it.

The tweet was quickly deleted.

The first time he was asked about Hunter came at the SEC Spring Meetings in May in Destin, Florida. It was fewer than two weeks after Auburn’s initial statement on suspensions.

“We don’t comment on individuals and their status with any disciplinary issues within our school,” Freeze said then. “I really don’t have a comment on that.”

The next time Freeze was asked came at SEC Media Days in July in Nashville. Freeze could not say if Hunter would be able to participate in fall camp. He also did not say if any players would face suspensions.

“I can’t comment on University policies or procedures,” Freeze said when asked about Hunter.

Hunter did not play at the start of fall camp practices on Aug. 3. The first time he was seen during periods of practice open to the media was on Aug. 8. He practiced in every Auburn practice from there, during periods open to reporters.

“I’ll say this again: I understand the question but matters related to team rules and procedures, they’re handled internally and they will not be discussed publicly,” Freeze said before Auburn’s first preseason practice.

Hunter was in fact rusty in his return to the field. He led Auburn in carries with 11 and rushing yards with 53. Though he only had two rushes that were longer than five yards. He came close to breaking a big play a few times, but got tripped up in the secondary.

In his post-game press conference, Freeze turned the conversation to the rest of Auburn’s running back room.

Other than a fumble, Damari Alston had a strong game and was one of the better sparks for Auburn. Jeremiah Cobb picked up 20 yards on just three carries.

“I thought Damari was solid other than the turnover,” Freeze said. “I’ll tell you, Jeremiah has something to him. He’s got something to him. It’s going to be hard to get all of them — and Battie didn’t have enough carries either. We’ll have to kind of evaluate how we’re going to handle that.”

Back in fall camp, Auburn had talked about using a running back by committee, and it seems that is going to be the case as Auburn wants to find a way to get the ball into the hands of its many options in a deep running back room — even if this game against Cal wasn’t the best offensive output, or even close to that.

It’s just more personnel rotation on an Auburn team already full of it.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]