Former Spain Park quarterback Neil Caudle found his way onto the field Saturday in Auburn University’s 37-20 homecoming victory over Tennessee-Martin.

Caudle, a redshirt sophomore, took over the Auburn offense with 3:10 remaining in the game, marching the Tigers 47 yards in eight plays to the UTM 10 before game’s end. He 4-of-5 passes for 32 yards and rushed once for 4 yards in his first playing time of the season.

“Obviously we weren’t trying to score there at the end. Sometimes people think when you put your second team quarterback out there, you just run the clock out. We needed to see Neil throw the ball and throw it down the field. I thought he did good,” Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville said.

Caudle’s one incomplete pass came as he was flushed out of the pocket by three UTM defenders.

“He kept his poise the one time he had to scramble they had a blitz on him on the weak side and he didn’t read it, but he got himself out of a jam by throwing the ball down the field out of the pocket where it wasn’t grounding,” Tuberville said. “We were trying to put him in right before the half but we gave up a third-and-10 and gave them an opportunity to go down and score. I would have loved to have gotten him a few more snaps.”

Caudle rose to the No. 2 spot at quarterback in recent weeks after Kodi Burns became Auburn’s starter. His only other appearance for Auburn came during the 2007 homecoming against Tennessee Tech, when he attempted three passes.

He was ranked the No. 7 pro-style quarterback in the nation and No. 8 player in Alabama coming out of high school after the 2005 season.