Auburn’s coaches wanted to see how their young players would react to a game situation when the team scrimmaged for the first time Wednesday at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Two freshmen receivers seized the moment.

Antonio Goodwin and Shaun Kitchens both shined in a closed scrimmage, highlighting a strong day for the offense that featured a number of explosive plays.

“Just trying to find out who are some of the younger guys that can step up and help us,” Auburn head coach Gene Chizik said. “I thought both of those guys ... showed up tonight.”

Goodwin, 6-foot-1, 173-pound freshman from Atlanta, had two touchdowns and over 100 yards receiving, running back Mario Fannin said.

“Most of the time freshmen come in and are overwhelmed by everything, but he came in and he just tried to calm himself down and made some big plays,” Fannin said.

“The guy is phenomenal,” wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor said. “He can go get the football. He’s not afraid.”

Kitchens, a 6-foot-3, 217-pound freshman from College Park, Ga., made a one-handed catch diving toward the sideline.

“It got the whole offense geeked up and jumping up and down,” Taylor said.

Kitchens also stood out as a blocker, de-cleating a player on a kick return, according to Taylor. That physical style has set the part-time receiver, part-time H-back apart in the early going.

“The guy is phenomenal athlete,” Taylor said. “I know this much: we’re going to be glad that we signed that one.”

Follow the blog on Twitter and be a fan on Facebook.

Some other notes and quotes:

• Sounds like there is another scrimmage Saturday. I'd assume it would be the late session of the two practices.
  

• Senior safety Zac Etheridge, who is easing back into full contact following last year’s serious neck injury, did not scrimmage live.

• Senior wideout Kodi Burns also made several plays, a positive sign for an offense that needs its passing game to step up. "A lot of people look at Kodi and say he's just a blocker, but you watch and see how many times Kodi tackles Kodi," Taylor said. "The first guy that gets to him, he's going to make that guys miss or he's going to break the tackle. That's the kind of kid you want."

• Taylor thinks the passing game really needs to step up this year. Of course, he's the wide receivers coach, so what else is he going to say? “We’re not going to line it up and run at anybody 80 plays in a row,” he said. “We have to be able to back those safeties up and back them out of the box and make some plays. If they can put eight, nine guys in the box, it’s going to be a long season for us.”

• Linebacker Craig Stevens explaining all the plays the receivers made: "You never know where the ball's going to go. Especially with our offense, they like to run you sideline to sideline to get you fatigued. Once that fatigue factor sets in, you have to focus and some of the big play receivers ... you've got to find a way to light it up and get a stop."

• WR Trovon Reed took some reps, despite dealing with an undisclosed injury. "My whole deal was just to give him a few plays to ease him back into it," Taylor said.

• Auburn rotated all of its quarterbacks in, with redshirt freshman Clint Moseley getting a good number of reps. Offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn was not ready to list a pecking order behind frontrunner Cam Newton.

• Although the offense had the upper hand, it wasn’t all good. While the Tigers minimized turnovers, Malzahn couldn’t look past a number of penalties and missed assignments. “I don’t think until you get those things corrected you can be too pleased,” he said. Newton agreed, adding, "We’re nowhere near where we’re supposed to be."

• Fannin assessed Newton's night: "Cam looked good. He's a guy that's going to work hard for us and do everything he can to help us win. He looked great out there, he made some good throws and made some good decisions and he's going to get better as the season goes along."

• So did Malzahn: "It was good for him to get the reps. He made some good plays and he made some things that I know he wished he could do better. That's part of the process. He needs reps. So each scrimmage he'll continue to get a lot of reps."

• So did Newton: "I did OK. I always feel like I can always get better." (So ... good things, bad things, not perfect, but not bad. Glad to clear that up.)

• Fannin thought running back Michael Dyer was solid. "He's a quick guy and he's low to the ground and he can make some people miss too," he said. "He looked really good. He's got to basically keep learning the offense and he'll get better as the year goes along too."

• Defensively, Chizik again praised freshman end Corey Lemonier, as well as tackle Jeffrey Whitaker. “Those guys have to keep working,” defensive coordinator Ted Roof said. “They’re in the grind now.” (I assume "grind" translate roughly to "in the mix to play.")

• Stevens and fellow linebacker Josh Bynes said a trio of young defensive backs, safeties Demetruce McNeal and Ryan Smith and cornerback Jonathon Mincy, had a solid night. “To be freshmen doing what they’re doing is great,” Bynes said. “And it’s well-needed for the defense.”

• Sounds like the defense did a good job containing the run. "We tackled better in the open field," Roof said. "We're really working hard on pursuit angles and open-field tackling technique. From that standpoint, it was a step in the right direction."

• But the big plays left an impression. “We just have to continue to work on those plays that rip your heart out,” he said.

One quick programming note: I'll be out of town tending to a family matter the next couple days, so I will not be at either of Thursday's two practice sessions. I'll be back for Saturday, however.