Auburn Football: 5 storylines to follow during 2018 spring ball

5. Who will back up Jarrett Stidham?

Jarrett Stidham is the clear-cut favorite to start at quarterback for Malzahn’s Tigers in 2018. Stidham, a Baylor transfer, threw for over 3,000 yards on 8.5 yards per attempt. He added 18 touchdowns with six interceptions on the season.

In the red zone, Auburn often uses their multi-back running back system that includes hulking H-back Chandler Cox as a lead blocker. Auburn has clicked when they have the right guy at quarterback, like most teams, and will ride Stidham’s arm in 2018.

However, if Stidham is injured again, who will replace him in Auburn’s offense? The first option has to be Malik Willis. Willis came to Auburn as a three-star athlete and transitioned into the quarterback role for Gus Malzahn.

In 2017 Willis was 6-for-7 passing with a touchdown. The true freshman out of Roswell High School in Atlanta, Ga., played in seven games a year ago and looks to be the backup to Stidham.

Incoming freshman Joey Gatewood also arrives listed as an athlete on recruiting services but as a quarterback on the Auburn website. Gatewood is already working with the quarterbacks and at 6-foot-4 and 232 pounds has NFL size but is very raw. Enrolling early will help him immensely as he needs work on his passing form and it always helps for learning the speed of the college game.

The spring game on April 7 will be quite interesting as Stidham probably won’t play a ton of reps while Gatewood and Willis battle for the backup role for the Tigers.