AUBURN, Ala. — Auburn’s quarterback depth chart remains undefined, but Cam Newton continued to make a push for the starting job Wednesday.

Newton, who is one of four quarterbacks splitting reps, threw two touchdowns in the Tigers’ closed half-scrimmage at Jordan-Hare Stadium. One came on a deep pass to DeAngelo Benton.

“The ball placement was unbelievable,” wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor said. “If he had missed it, it would have gone out of bounds. That’s what you’re looking for.”

Newton also zipped a pass between two defenders to Kodi Burns for a touchdown.

“It was a frozen rope,” Taylor said.

Despite the coaches’ reluctance to name a starter, Newton is the presumed frontrunner. Teammates have spoken glowingly about his physical ability.

“He’s everything they talked him up to be,” linebacker Craig Stevens said.

Newton has also made strides in winning his teammates over in the locker room.

“He’s earned a lot of people’s respect,” Stevens said. “He didn’t come in too arrogant or anything. He just came in, got to know everyone, and that’s crucial at that position — get to know everyone and just get comfortable with everyone. That’s what he did. I bet he earned a lot of people’s respect just by doing that.

Despite Newton’s big day, Auburn’s defense came out on top in the scrimmage. The Tigers got interceptions from Drew Cole and Ikeem Means and forced three fumbles..

“We had some guys who had some opportunities to make plays — and (we) made them,” defensive coordinator Ted Roof said. “That’s a step in the right direction.”

Here are some other quotes and notes following practice No. 12:

• The turnovers were on Taylor's mind afterward. He must be hanging out with offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn. "I thought we made too many mistakes, as far as holding penalties – a couple of my guys on the perimeter," Taylor said. "We pride ourselves on taking care of the football, and we turned it over. You’ve got to give credit to the defense. We need to take better care of the football. Gus really emphasizes that in every meeting and every drill. He really emphasizes taking care of the football, and we didn’t do a good job of that. I think we had three fumbles. You can’t win ball games like that."

• Taylor said Auburn will split into two teams for Saturday’s A-Day scrimmage at Jordan-Hare Stadium. “We’re trying to make it as competitive as we can,” Taylor said. The Tigers went offense vs. defense last year, with few, if any, members of the regular defense getting any playing time. It resulted in plenty of points. Just how Auburn will split the teams this year has not been decided, although Taylor promised plenty of different looks. “It’s not just going to be 1’s on 1’s or 1’s on 2’s,” he said. “We’re going to mix it up.”

• Auburn doesn’t intend to water down its playbook for the scrimmage either. “I think you’ll see a lot of it this weekend,” Taylor said. “We’re going to polish on Friday, but we’re not going to put the vanilla stuff in. We’re going to go play football and find who the play-makers are.”

• Sophomore Daren Bates will either play linebacker or safety next year, but doing both seems unlikely. “That’s tough,” Roof said. “It’s different. It’s so different to play deep zones than it is to play underneath zones. You want a lot of built up reps so you really understand your trait and hone in on your trait. (Playing both is) tough to do. I hope we’re not forced to.”

• Bates, who is not participating in drills after offseason shoulder surgery, has been in linebacker meetings all spring, learning the position to help Auburn’s speed movement on defense. The question is whether he’ll stay there. Auburn’s safety rotation has plenty of question marks, with Zac Etheridge (neck), Aairon Savage (Achilles’, knee) and Mike McNeil (leg) returning from injuries. Roof didn’t rule out a return to safety for Bates. “It depends who else is healthy,” he said. “Really, to pinpoint an area right now, I don’t know if I’m ready to do that.”

• Roof, on the defense's focus this spring: "So much of this spring is understanding where our help is coming from. Where can we make more aggressive decisions? Where do we have to make sure we get him on the ground? That's so much of teaching and understanding conceptually what we're trying to do. That's a big, big deal. Not only do you want them to understand the coverage or the front or the blitz, you want them to understand why you do it. Every call has strengths and weaknesses. If there was one call that stopped everything, we'd run it all the time."

• Roof, trying to explain why Jonathan Evans has gotten some work with the first team (the blog contends that it's because he's doing better than anybody else): "We shake things up on a daily basis to challenge guys and reward production. We want to rate apples to apples. If one guy runs with the first unit, that's a different quality of reps than it is with the second unit. To evaluate fairly, you have to mix things up."

• Anthony Gulley-Morgan has caught Roof's eye at corner, and not just for the way the sophomore has picked things up this spring. "I’ll tell you what, at times he can be pretty physical," Roof said. "He tackles well. That’s a big plus for him."

• Neil Caudle has worked as Wes Byrum’s holder on field goals. "That’s probably the biggest part of spring and summer," Byrum said, "just getting a lot of the chemistry down with snapping and holding and all that stuff. Basically, it takes a lot of repetition with each other."

• Byrum tailed back his work load last week because of a minor knee issue. Chandler Brooks kicked during Auburn’s live drills in his place.

• Darvin Adams had a mild shoulder problem and didn't participate in the scrimmage Wednesday. He said he should be good to go on A-Day.

• Wide receiver Ralph Spry had a touchdown catch Wednesday but also fumbled once. Taylor called him and Emory Blake the two most improved receivers this spring.