It all seemed to culminate Saturday. All that talk and the hype and the “Holy s—” looks when seeing the new receiver with that size in practice — it all came together on one play Saturday.

Newly named starting quarterback Payton Thorne looked for Shane Hooks over the middle in the back of the end zone during Auburn’s second preseason scrimmage. Covered by linebacker Cam Riley, Hooks leaped in the air for the ball above his head and snagged it with one hand as he fell to the ground.

“One of the touchdowns he caught, if it were a game, it would be SportsCenter tonight,” head coach Hugh Freeze said after the scrimmage.

Hooks’ highlight catch was part of a monster day in Auburn’s scrimmage where he had six catches and found the endzone multiple times. This was the moment for a wide receiver who wasn’t with this team in spring practices to cement a spot in the starting lineup, show off why his teammates haven’t taken long to be impressed by him and make a case to be the receiver that finally breaks an Auburn streak of frustration at the position.

Before coming to Auburn, Hooks spent the last two years with head coach Deion Sanders as Jackson State. In that time he totaled 82 catches for 974 yards and 12 touchdowns. He earned a chance back to the FBS level after starting his career at Ohio University.

So when he took the field at Auburn for the first time in early August, not having been seen by anyone in an Auburn helmet to that point, nothing jumped out quicker than his 6-foot-4, 191-pound frame. This was the look of a playmaker, but it was going to take him some time to adapt.

Hooks wasn’t a member of the initial three-receiver sets Auburn used during drills in periods open to practice during the earlier parts of the preseason. But as he learned the playbook and built chemistry with his new quarterbacks, he still caught the eyes of his teammates.

“Shane Hooks, we’ve been working really well with each other,” cornerback D.J. James said. “I’m excited for Shane Hooks. That’s my guy.”

James called Hooks Auburn’s “high point guy.” And at that size, he’s shown to do just that.

Wide receivers coach Marcus Davis said the transition to Auburn for Hooks was difficult. But Davis looked back on Hooks’ experience with four years of college football behind him already. That helps him adjust, Davis said, because he already understands the routine and rigor of collegiate sports, whereas a younger transfer who hasn’t seen the field might not.

Davis said the wide receivers who had already been in town helped Hooks and other newcomers make the transition, too.

“I’d like to take my hat off to the guys who were already in that room,” Davis said. “You could see that they communicated. They want their brothers to do well at their job. So the communication and bringing those guys along, I thought it was a good fit with the guys who came in, just from a personality standpoint.”

Slowly, Hooks became more comfortable and has seemed to work his way to the top of Auburn’s broad wide receiver rotation. Freeze has mentioned eight wide receivers, including Hooks, who he foresees as part of Auburn’s top group of targets at the position, and that didn’t include Koy Moore and Malcolm Johnson Jr. who continue to deal with injuries.

As a whole, that group struggled in Auburn’s first scrimmage. Freeze said many receivers ran the wrong route or were “loafing” during the game. Certainly, the struggles of the first game include Hooks still learning the new offense and fitting his way in.

The ensuing week, Freeze said was the best week of practice for the whole position. Hooks played well enough in practice over the last week to keep himself in the rotation. The buzz continued to build.

But he’s not where Auburn wants him to be yet.

“I wish he played the game a little faster,” Freeze said. “We’ve got to get him to do that. I think some of that comes from maybe not playing against the speed of this level yet. If we can get him convinced to run every route and knowing, ‘Dude, you can get a break. Run this route like the game depends upon it.’”

And heading into Auburn’s second scrimmage, Hooks had worked his way up to the top group of wide receivers along with Jay Fair and Omari Kelly. The game doesn’t count and there were no television cameras to show it, but Hooks play in the scrimmage seemed to validate why Auburn brought him in.

If he can play as he did in the scrimmage in a game against a team wearing a different helmet, Hooks ability on contested catches — and running after the catch, as Freeze noted — gives Auburn a weapon it hasn’t had on the outside since Seth Williams, Darius Slayton or Sammie Coates — and only Coates was legitimately close to breaking Auburn’s more than two-decade drought of a 1,000-yard single-season wide receiver.

Hooks likely won’t be the one to finally hit that milestone. Auburn has too many options to key in on just one guy.

He may well wind up on SportsCenter though.

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