Auburn Football: What to Look for in the Tigers' Spring Game

Auburn will hold its annual A-Day spring game at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday, two days before its final spring practice of the season. With two new coordinators, a ongoing quarterback race and a defense that has been less-than-stellar under head coach Gene Chizik, there are plenty of questions facing the 2012 Tigers.

So what are some of the things to look for? Here are three big story lines:

Who's going to play quarterback?

True sophomore Kiehl Frazier has been the recipient of rave reviews this spring, but Saturday is his opportunity to show how far he's come in new offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler's offense. He's known as a duel-threat, but what fans really want to see is how he's progressed throwing the football. Former offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn limited Frazier last season to 12 pass attempts, most of which were in meaningless situations, so he's still very much an unknown commodity.

Behind Frazier is returning starter Clint Moseley. The junior from Leroy, Ala. was average at best last season, completing 61 percent of his passes and tossing five touchdowns. But some untimely interceptions really soured the fanbase on Moseley. He's been nursing a sore shoulder this spring, and that has given Frazier the opportunity to distance himself from Moseley this spring.

The wild card is true freshman Zeke Pike. Pike enrolled early at Auburn, and at 6'6", 225, Pike has the size and arm strength to step in and play in the SEC right away. He probably won't win the job, but it will be interesting to see how much he's evolved since high school ball last fall.

Is Auburn going to field a functional defense this season?

Former defensive coordinator Ted Roof is gone to Penn State (after a few weeks at UCF), and not many Auburn fans are going to miss him. Why? Because Brian VanGorder has landed on the Plains to revitalize an Auburn defense that was awful a year ago. VanGorder has already stated that he wants more size on defense, and it'll be interesting to see if that has happened during offseason conditioning and spring practice.

It all starts up front, and Auburn has some talent to work with there with defensive ends Corey Lemonier, Nosa Eguae and Dee Ford, as well as some bulk in the middle with Jeff Whitaker, Gabe Wright and Ken Carter. Eguae, Wright and Carter all are out this spring, which has provided Auburn with the chance to build some much needed depth along the defensive line. We will see that depth has progressed this spring.

How will Loeffler use the weapons in the backfield?

Onterio McCalebb is the guy at the top of the running back depth chart now, but he's been a changeup back throughout his career. There are only so many carries to go around, and with Tre Mason, Mike Blakely and Corey Grant all vying for playing time, Loeffler's going to have to be creative to get the ball in the hands of his playmakers. Blakely is built similarly to former Auburn running back Michael Dyer, and is capable of being that between-the-tackles guy, while Grant is more of a speedster that can do some damage in space. Mason is kind of a hybrid that can do a little bit of everything.

As is the case with all running backs, what may decide this competition is which player steps in becomes the most reliable pass-blocker.  

Note: Bleacher Report's SEC Blog will be hosting a Live Blog during Auburn's A-Day Game which kicks off at 3:00 p.m. ET. Check out www.bleacherreport.com/secblog

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