AUBURN | John Franklin III is making progress. After a rocky first scrimmage last Saturday, Franklin bounced back to perform better during this Saturday’s half-scrimmage that took place in the indoor facility behind the athletic complex.

“He protected the football quite a bit better than he did last Saturday, which is to be expected,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. “It's just a matter of him feeling more comfortable. We know quite a bit about the other two guys, and the other two guys have had very good practices the last couple of weeks.

“We're just going to make sure we get a really good evaluation of John and let him play and see what he can do.”

Franklin is competing with senior Jeremy Johnson and sophomore Sean White for the starting quarterback position this spring. It’s a competition that’s expected to stretch into preseason drills.

Saturday, Johnson and White wore orange non-contact jerseys and took limited reps. Franklin was live and took the majority of the reps as the junior college transfer continues to learn Auburn’s system.

While Franklin did have a couple of turnovers, he managed the offense more efficiently and had another long run.

“We've been impressed the way he's picked up all the things from the sideline ― the pre-snap things,” Malzahn said. “There's a lot to playing quarterback in our system before the play even starts, but you even look at the defense. I've been very impressed the way he's done that.

“He's a learner. He studies hard. We're just kind of waiting until the game becomes slow. Kodi Burns the other day was talking the other day when we first got here in 2009 he was playing quarterback, and just how it takes a little bit to start feeling comfortable. You can see he's feeling more and more comfortable, but it's just going to be a matter of time.”

Redshirt freshman Tyler Queen, who is returning from elbow surgery, also got live reps in the scrimmage. Queen was limited at the start of spring drills but was recently cleared to do more.

“He got a couple of series and did a solid job,” Malzahn said.

Overall, it was the defense that held the upper hand in Saturday’s scrimmage. The veteran unit forced turnovers and controlled the running game.

“They have great spirit. They're playing together,” Malzahn said. “They're playing extremely hard. They're very disruptive up front. We're getting Rudy Ford back, and he's healthy, so they're starting to gel. They've had a very good spring.”

MORE FROM MALZAHN

On Saturday’s practice/scrimmage…

“Today we had a half a practice, half a scrimmage. We were planning on going to the stadium. The field was just a little damp. We just wanted to be safe, so we came to the indoor. We started out practice with 7-on-7, we had a third-down period, a couple of two-minute-period situations, then we ended up having a live kickoff, live kickoff return. We had two reps of that. Then we went to our scrimmage. Our ones got about 20 plays, our twos got about 35, our threes got about 25. It was kind of making sure our orange was getting some live reps, but it was really focused on developing some younger guys.

“Our energy was very good. Our guys were excited to play and practice. They were flying around. Any time you let three groups play there's going to be some good on defense, there's going to be some good on offense, and that's pretty much what it was. Overall, I'd really liked our attitude.”

On Austin Golson working at left tackle…

“Austin is settling in at tackle. You know, he’s also had some reps at center, but he’s starting to feel more and more comfortable. It takes a while out there on the edge and blocking our defensive ends has been very good for him to see the pass rush and all the games people play. But he’s done a solid job.”

On center Xavier Dampeer…

“Xavier is very comfortable. He’s been in our system for a long time. He’s just so much more confident and his snaps have been excellent and he’s had a very good spring.”

On the linebackers…

“Deshaun Davis, Tre Williams, I mean, they are veteran guys and they really have had solid springs. Darrell Williams and the other young guys they are flying around, they are playing, they are getting a lot of reps. And that’s by design. Coach (Travis) Williams is doing a great job with them. The two older guys are a little bit ahead of the younger guys, but that’s to be expected. They are veteran guys and they’ve been extremely physical. I will say this, from the linebacker position, they’ve been extremely physical this spring, and that’s a good thing.”