AUBURN | It’s still early, very early into preseason practice. The players won’t don full pads until the end of the week.

But it’s never too early to talk about first impressions of Auburn’s 2020 class, especially the skill players that don’t necessarily need full pads to show off their skillset.

Quarterback Bo Nix, speaking to the media before Tuesday’s second practice, singled out two true freshmen on offense that have caught his eye.

“Yeah, I’m excited about the newcomers,” said Nix, who started as a true freshman last season. “The freshmen, Coach (Ryan) Russell, especially in the offseason and this summer was really bragging about them and saying how good of a job they’ve done. They had a great GPA coming in from last spring, so those guys are really taking care of business, and I’m looking forward to seeing them grow and develop as players, not only as guys in the locker room but eventually growing up and maturing in all ways that freshmen do. Just a few, obviously Tank (Bigsby) and Ze’Vian (Capers), those guys have been out there and are working really hard.”

Bigsby, rated the nation’s No. 5 running back by Rivals, is competing for the starting position with four other scholarship players that have combined for five career starts. Of course, that competition will need plenty of full-pad, scrimmage-type reps to work itself out.

Capers, was rated the nation’s No. 31 wide receiver, and is part of a talented group of wideouts the Tigers’ brought in with the 2020 class. At 6-foot-4 and 194 pounds, Capers offers Nix another big target similar to junior Seth Williams. He caught 105 passes for 2,104 yards and 21 touchdowns his final two seasons at Denmark High School in Alpharetta, Ga.

“He’s a lot taller and rangier than I remember seeing him when he was in high school, so that was—obviously whenever you can get a receiver like that, that’s really important, a guy who can go up and get the ball,” Nix said. “His ball skills are really good. He’s really developed as a receiver as far as route-running and catching the ball naturally, and any time you get to college, you’re going to have different things you’re going to have to work on as far as making releases and physicality from a receiver standpoint, how you get off the line and get covered and things like that.

“I feel confident he’s willing to work for it. He’s an extremely hard worker and an extremely competitive guy, so I’m really looking forward to him continuing to grow and develop and take the next step to play, because like we said earlier, any depth at any position is going to be really important, so hopefully I believe he’ll do a good job doing that and being a help for us.”

Auburn will continue preseason practice Wednesday and Thursday, take off Friday and hold its first scrimmage Saturday.