AUBURN | That the first-team defense dominated Auburn’s opening preseason scrimmage Saturday night should come as no surprise.

That the first-team offense, which is going through a major structural and philosophical change and still experimenting with different combinations up front, struggled to move the ball, gave up several negative plays and turned the ball over should come as no surprise.

That a quarterback who is trying to execute a new offense and comes under consistent pressure would throw a couple of interceptions should also come as no surprise.

But we know that’s not how it goes with quarterbacks and that’s especially true with Bo Nix.

For many, Nix has become the it person for what has plagued Auburn’s offense. Not the offense that he played in for two years that has been consistently ridiculed by NFL coaches for its simpleness. Not the offensive line whose two starting tackles had anemic 41.0 and 68.4 pass blocking grades according to PFF.

No, it must be Nix’s fault because he doesn’t stand in the pocket and let 300-pound defensive linemen get in their free shots.

Look, I don’t have a crystal ball and can’t say for certain how the lineup will look Sept. 4 against Akron, but I would be shocked if Nix wasn’t starting his 25th consecutive game for the Tigers.

I'd also be surprised if we don't see Nix take an important step in his development under Bryan Harsin and Mike Bobo. Quarterbacks have excelled under their tutelage and that should be no different for Nix, TJ Finley and Dematrius Davis.

You can be high on the future of both Finley and Davis while still expecting better production out of Nix this season. Both backups had a good scrimmages, but neither faced the same first-team defense as Nix.

Finley is providing competition for Nix, which is good for both quarterbacks, and Davis has taken a couple of steps forward since spring. That’s a great sign for Auburn’s future at quarterback, a position that hasn’t had a lot of quality depth in recent years.

As for the scrimmage, the only times I recall the offense having the upper hand in early camp battles were followed by below average to poor seasons.

The defense better be dominating this portion of fall drills, especially with the installation of a new offense. Auburn’s is, and that’s a good sign.

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Joey Gatewood made the right decision leaving Auburn, but it was the wrong decision making such a quick move to Kentucky.

Gatewood, once again, finished second or third in a quarterback battle and is now back in the transfer portal nearly two years after his first move. In three years of college football, Gatewood has started one game, a 14-3 loss to Georgia last year in which he threw for just 91 yards.

More than anything, Gatewood needs experience being a starting quarterback, being the leader of an offense. Even in high school he split snaps at the position.

The best move he can make right now is to find a junior college where he can play right away and get the key game experience he needs. I recall two former Auburn quarterbacks, Cam Newton and Nick Marshall, who transformed their careers after a stint in JUCO.

Gatewood’s not coming back and leading Auburn to an SEC or National Championship, but perhaps there’s a school out there that could be in the market for a seasoned, dual-threat quarterback in 2022.

The key word is seasoned. Gatewood needs to get on the field. And if the third time’s going to be the charm, he can’t be picky about the field he chooses.

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In today’s musical journey, we go back 35 years and the return of a musician minus one limb. On Aug. 16, 1986, Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen made his first live appearance with the band at the Monsters Of Rock Festival at Castle Donington in England 20 months after losing his left arm in a car accident. Allen played barefoot using a modified drum kit with electronic pedals. Allen received a long and loud cheer from the crowd when he was introduced, bringing tears to his bandmates. Nearly 80,000 people attended the festival, which was headlined by Ozzy Osbourne and also included the Scorpions and Motorhead.

Def Leppard was originally formed as Atomic Mass in 1977 by Rick Savage, Tony Kenning and Pete Willis, all students at Tapton School in Sheffield, England. Joe Elliott joined shortly thereafter and initially proposed the band change its name to Deaf Leopard. Lead guitarist Steve Clark joined early 1978 and then Allen, who was only 15 at the time, later that year. Their debut album, On Through the Night, came in 1980, but it was their second album, 1981’s High ’n’ Dry that including their first hit, Bringin’ On the Heartbreak, which became one of the first hard rock songs played on MTV. Pyromania came out in 1983 and included the hit songs Photograph and Foolin' and 1987’s Hysteria became a smashing success. Clark passed away from a mix of alcohol and prescription drugs in 1991. The next album, 1992’s Adrenalize, had one hit song, Let’s Get Rocked, but the rise of grunge rock saw the bands popularity wane. Def Leppard have produced a total of 11 studio albums and is still recording and touring to this day including a planned tour with Motley Crue, Poison and Joan Jett in 2022.. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.

Def Leppard began recording Hysteria in February 1984 but it never got going after two producers were replaced and then Allen’s crash on December 31. He was driving his Corvette C4 with his girlfriend, Miriam Barendsen, and crashed into a stone wall trying to pass another car. The doctors initially reattached his arm but had to amputate due to an infection. Barendsen was not seriously injured. They finally settled on Mutt Lange as the producer, but he was also injured in auto accident and Elliott got the mumps so the final recording sessions didn’t take place until 1987. Lange said the goal of the album was to create a hard rock version of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. It did with five top ten hist on the Billboard 100 including 1988’s Love Bites, which is Def Leppard’s only No. 1 song. Other hits from the album, which was released on Aug. 3, 1987 included Animal, Pour Some Sugar On Me, Hysteria, Armageddon It and Rocket. The name of the album was originally supposed to be Animal Instinct but it was changed to Hysteria due to everything the band went through in the process of making it. It’s gone on to sell over 50 million copies, which ranks among the top 60 albums of all-time. It spent 96 weeks in the US top 40, which ties Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. for the decade of 1980’s.