AUBURN | I’ve picked up a few things here and there covering Auburn football for the past 25 years.

And one of my truths is if the offense is ahead of the defense in the first preseason scrimmage, I’m going to be covering a bad football team.

It’s also important that one side doesn’t get completely dominated unless it’s the one’s going against the two’s. In that case, it better be lopsided.

Now, I can’t fully attest to the accuracy of my truths but I’m living my life with no regrets.

So I felt pretty good about the Tigers being an improved team as I walked out of Jordan-Hare Stadium Saturday.

The defense was at an advantage with the officials calling plays dead on first contact with no tackling to the ground until the last few drives.

D.J. Durkin also had his guys shifting and pressuring and not just playing base defense, which is not always the case in early scrimmages.

The first-team defense was especially good stopping the first-team offense on its first four possessions before Payton Thorne finally broke through with a touchdown pass to freshman Malcolm Simmons.

And it was those freshmen receivers that took over the second half of the scrimmage as Perry Thompson, Bryce Cain and Simmons all continued making big plays, mainly with the second-team offense.

They’ve been the story of fall camp and it showed Saturday with the exception of Cam Coleman, who has been THE STORY since enrolling in January.

The fourth of the true freshmen wideouts, or more accurately the first, was surprisingly not a part of the big plays during the scrimmage. Working with the starters, he was targeted a couple times on passes out of bounds.

And that brings me to the biggest issue with Auburn’s first-team offense last season, which unfortunately showed up during the scrimmage — the lack of big plays.

Do I expect that to change this season?

Yes. Absolutely.

I’ve seen and heard enough to expect Coleman and an improved wide receiver room to provide a vertical threat in the passing game, which should open up a lot of things on offense including the running game.

There just wasn't enough of it from the first-team Saturday.

So it’s a good sign that the defense was ahead but as we move forward into the second and third scrimmages over the next couple of weeks, quarterback Payton Thorne needs to get those eyes downfield and get the ball in the hands of AU’s playmakers.

I know there’s a lot of skepticism about Thorne’s ability to do just that, but I think he can and will.

I’m sure we're all just ready to see more of it.

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In today’s musical journey, we go back 33 years to the release of one of the greatest metal albums of all time by one of the greatest metal bands of all time. On Aug. 12, 1991, Metallica released its self-titled album, often called the Black Album, which ranks in the top 20 all-time with over 30 million copies sold worldwide. It has spent 750 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart including four weeks at No. 1. Only Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon (990 weeks), Bob Marley’s Legend (843) and Journey’s Greatest Hits (813) have more. Metallica’s fifth studio album included five popular singles in “Enter Sandman,” “The Unforgiven,” “Nothing Else Matters,” “Wherever I May Roam” and “Sad But True.” Most were written and composed by lead singer James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich. The album won a Grammy for Best Metal Performance. Rolling Stone ranks Metallica 25th on its list of the 100 greatest metal albums of all time and 235th on its 500 greatest albums of all time. Loudwire ranks Metallica No. 3 on its list of the 50 greatest metal bands of all time behind Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden.

Metallica was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 when Ulrich placed an ad in a local newspaper. Hetfield answered the ad and came on board followed by lead guitarist Dave Mustaine. In 1982, bassist Cliff Burton was added and Kirk Hammett replaced Mustaine, who would later co-found Megadeath. They released their debut album in 1983 and two more albums over the next three years before Burton was killed in 1986 when their tour bus crashed in Sweden. Jason Newsted was hired as the new bassist and a fourth studio album released in 1988, which included their first charting single on the Billboard 100 in “One.” They have produced 11 studio albums including 2023’s 72 Seasons and had their only top 10 hit in 1996’s “Until It Sleeps.” Newsted left the band in 2001 and was replaced by Robert Trujillo two years later. Metallica has won 10 Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009. They have sold more than 125 million albums, which ranks in the top 40 of all time.