Contributed
(August 22, 2010)

AUBURN.- The Auburn football team continued preparations for the Sept. 4 season opener by working out in full pads for more than two hours Saturday morning inside Jordan-Hare Stadium.

The Tigers followed their typical practice routine for the first half of the workout before holding a half scrimmage designed primarily for the younger players to get repetitions.

The practice portion of the workout focused primarily on individual and position drills, while also allowing the Tigers to work on their special teams. Once the offense and defense came together, the half scrimmage provided the coaching staff an opportunity to more thoroughly evaluate many of the younger players.

Following the workout, head coach Gene Chizik said that the half scrimmage will be beneficial in helping determine which younger players might be able to contribute this season.

"We got a lot of reps at the end in the scrimmage with some young guys," said Chizik. "We’re trying to make some final decisions on who we think can help and who can’t. It was really productive in working towards making some more decisions, and we’ll continue to evaluate, but today will help us."

Chizik also noted that senior safety Zac Etheridge was able to participate in the scrimmage, marking his first action in a full-contact situation since suffering a season-ending neck injury last season vs. Ole Miss.

The Tigers will be back on the practice fields at the Athletics Complex on Sunday at 6 p.m.

Auburn opens the 2010 season on Sept. 4 against Arkansas State at 6 p.m. CT in Jordan-Hare Stadium. The game will be televised by Fox Sports Net.