AUBURN | Auburn’s defense shined early before the offense struck back behind some big plays by Auburn’s freshmen wide receivers.

That was the story of Auburn’s first scrimmage of fall camp held at Jordan-Hare Stadium Saturday morning.

The defense stuffed the offense on the first seven drives as the first-, second- and third-teams faced off against each other.

One of the defensive highlights was Caleb Harris intercepting a Hank Brown pass in the end zone to end the fifth drive of the scrimmage.

The first-team offense, led exclusively by quarterback Payton Thorne, managed six combined first downs on its first four drives before Thorne connected with Malcolm Simmons on a 25-yard touchdown pass that was tipped by Caleb Wooden before being snagged by Simmons in the back of the end zone.

Simmons, a true freshman, finished with four catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns while Thorne was 12 of 20 for 86 yards with a TD.

The offense scored on six of its final eight drives.

Another true freshman, Perry Thompson, set up the first score with a 65-yard reception from Brown. Jeremiah Cobb had a 10-yard touchdown run on the next play.

Brown was 5-of-7 for 93 yards with one interception while Thompson had two catches for 95 yards.

Holden Geriner, who rotated in with Brown on the second-team, connected with Bryce Cain for a 58-yard TD on the 11th drive of the scrimmage and completed a 71-yard TD to Simmons on the 15th and final drive of the day.

Geriner was 4 of 6 for 123 yards with two TD’s and Walker White, who worked exclusively with the third-team, was 11 of 21 for 106 yards. Cain, another true freshman, had two catches for 84 yards and a TD.

Towns McGough had a 41-yard field goal.

Standouts on defense included Jalen McLeod with two sacks and Amaris Williams with one. Freshman Malik Blocton started the scrimmage with the first-team at defensive tackle.

Most of the scrimmage was thud with players being called down on first touch and not being tackled, which is an advantage for the defense.

Auburn will take off Sunday and continue fall camp with a practice Monday morning.

**All STATS are unofficial and complied by the staff of AuburnSports.com.