The storyline coming out of Auburn’s scrimmage Saturday centered around its ongoing quarterback battle. At his press conference Saturday, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said he had thought he made up his mind on the final two quarterbacks, but the scrimmage forced him to rethink things.

Auburn’s quarterback decision has prolonged beyond the initial time frames coaches set. At SEC Media Days, Freeze said he hoped to narrow down to two quarterbacks by the fifth practice. But come the first day of practice, Freeze said that decision may take 10 days.

Tuesday was Auburn’s 10th practice and while there is no practice Wednesday due to Auburn’s first day of classes, it would mark two weeks since players reported to camp.

And while it may not have provided any finality or definitely clarity, but Tuesday gave media members a new look at the quarterbacks in the first open viewing period since Thursday.

Okay, so what’s that quarterback update?

The first drill reporters saw followed the typical practice plan in previous open periods. Each of the three quarterback finalists took turns with a full 11 on offense running plays except without a defense to oppose to them.

In that drill, which previously had been the only way for the media to take stock of the quarterback battle, Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne ran with the projected first-team offensive line. Sophomore Robby Ashford worked with the second-team offense line and sophomore Holden Geriner with the third team.

Much of that follows suit with previous practice. But the next drill provided a new look.

Auburn used its indoor practice field Tuesday evening due to afternoon thunderstorms and on one half of the field, the first-team offensive line set up against the projected defensive starters. Both Payton Thorne and Robby Ashford took turns with that group, which also featured Jarquez Hunter and some projected wide receiver starters.

While those two took turns with the top offensive group, Holden Geriner was on the other side of the field the whole time with the presumed second team.

None of the quarterbacks actually threw the ball in this drill, but it does mark the first time media members have seen Auburn separate Geriner away from Thorne and Ashford.

Now, does that mean Auburn has cut Geriner out of the quarterback battle? That’s unclear. The buzz from Auburn’s scrimmage Saturday centered around how well Geirner played. While one scrimmage alone isn’t going to vault someone into the starting job, there was thought that day might keep Geriner in the battle with more experienced options.

The one drill is not enough to form any definitive opinions on Geriner’s status going forward, but it certainly appeared to show Thorne and Ashford stepping forward.

It was the first time media members have seen multiple quarterbacks rotate in with the other projected starters in the same drill. To this point, open viewing periods for media have still not seen quarterbacks throw against a defense.

If this is designating a final two, then Thorne and Ashford are the final two that had long been expected entering fall camp. Those are Auburn’s two most experienced quarterbacks with Thorne arriving as a graduate transfer with multiple years of Big Ten starting experience and Ashford who was Auburn’s incumbent starter.

The breakdown of the quarterbacks seems to center around Thorne’s longer experience compared as well as more reliable accuracy and decision-making compared to Ashford’s higher ceiling due to his ability with his legs. Ashford’s accuracy has been inconsistent during fall camp, but he has shown marketed improvement relative to his first year with Auburn in 2022.

Checking in on the depth chart elsewhere:

The rest of the assumed offensive starters didn’t have many other surprises.

Left tackle Dillon Wade, center Avery Jones, right guard Kam Stutts and right tackle Gunner Britton all started in their typical positions. The left guard rotation between Tate Johnson and Jeremiah Wright landed on Wright today, and Johnson worked with the presumed second team.

Rivaldo Fairweather remains Auburn’s unquestioned top tight end.

Wide receiver rotation continued, but the first group out in the drills without an opposing defense included Omari Kelly, Jay Fair and Nick Mardner. Jarquez Hunter was the top running back as he has been since his return to practice.

Shane Hooks, Caleb Burton and Jyaire Shorter all worked their way into drills with Throne, Hunter and the top offensive line during that period of practice. During the latter drill, Ja’Varrius Johnson worked in with the top offense without a yellow no-contact jersey, after Freeze discussed an injury after the scrimmage Saturday.

During that same drill, the second team had Ashford and Damari Alston in the backfield with left tackle Jaden Muskrat, left guard Tate Johnson, center Connor Lew, right guard Jalil Irvin and right tackle Izavion Miller.

Defensively, the first group out when lined up against the offense in the second drill was largely as expected.

Jayson Jones and Marcus Harris were the first two on the interior on the defensive line with Jalen McLeod as the jack linebacker and fellow jack Brenton Williams lined up on the opposite side. Stephen Sings V and Mosiah Nasili-Kite each worked their way into that drill against the top offense, too.

Nehemiah Pritchett, D.J. James and Keionte Scott were the top corners out, as expected, along with safeties Jaylin Simpson and Zion Puckett on the back end.

Linebackers Eugene Asante and Larry Nixon III both worked in the middle. Both players have generated a lot of buzz during fall camp.

During the first drill where offense and defense worked separately, Auburn did have jacks Elijah McAllister and Sings working together on opposite sides of the defensive line — a package that Freeze and McLeod have both teased, albeit with McLeod teased in the place of McAllister.

Injury update

After Freeze’s injury update Saturday which noted multiple wide receivers, Malcolm Johnson Jr. (shoulder) was in a yellow jersey at practice. He did play, at walk-through speed. Camden Brown, who Freeze said has faced “bad luck” with injuries, participated in practice. Koy Moore (ankle) did not.

Linebackers Austin Keys (shoulder) and Wesley Steiner (hamstring) were also in yellow jerseys but did participate to an extent in drills.

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