SEC Football: Spring 2019 storylines for every SEC team
Auburn: Replacing Jarrett Stidham
Jarrett Stidham didn’t progress from his sophomore-to-junior seasons as Gus Malzahn and the Auburn faithful hoped, which was part of the reason the Tigers fell from preseason Top-10 to 8-5 and the Music City Bowl.
It’s hard to place the blame solely on Stidham’s shoulders, though, as the the Tigers’ offensive line struggled to keep him upright, and could never open up holes for a running game that failed to provide any semblance of offensive balance. He’s still a tough player to replace, and while there will be a heavy focus on other areas of the offense such as the offensive line and the running backs, solving the quarterback issue is Auburn’s biggest area of concern for the spring.
There will four players vying for the starting job in a battle that will likely go all the way up to the first game of the season when the Tigers face Oregon in Arlington.
Junior Malik Willis is the only quarterback on the roster with real game experience, and that’s been mostly in mop-up duty, consisting of Willis checking the ball down or throwing screen-passes. His 14 career pass attempts have totaled 69 yards.
Joey Gatewood redshirtted last season, but saw a few snaps in the fourth quarter of Auburn’s blowout win over Purdue in the bowl game. Gatewood has the big-bodied frame that is sure to draw (unfair) comparisons to Cam Newton, and he flashed his running ability against the Boilermakers while failing to complete the one pass he attempted.
24-year-old redshirt freshman Cord Sandberg is a late arrival to college after passing up his scholarship with Mississippi State out of high school when he was selected in the third round of the 2013 MLB Draft. He’s a talented player, though, and was a four-star recruit coming out of high school six years ago.
Auburn fans are likely hoping that none of those players win the job, though, as all eyes and hopes will be on freshman Bo Nix, the five-star legacy recruit who was ranked as the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the nation according to the 247 composites. Gone are the days of freshmen quarterbacks being brought along slowly; with the rise of young talents like Tua Tagovailoa and Jake Fromm in 2017 and Trevor Lawrence last season, more and more coaches are willing to roll the dice with freshmen signal-callers.
With Malzahn on the hot-seat, though, would he really put his job in the hands of a true freshman quarterback? Spring will give us a better indication, but he might not have a choice.