AUBURN | Quarterback development hasn't exactly been one of Gus Malzahn's strengths during his seven seasons as head coach, but things may be changing.
Saturday offered a least token proof of progress.
Redshirt freshman Joey Gatewood and true freshman Bo Nix put together two remarkable performances at the Tigers' annual A-Day game. Nix, who went 11-of-17 for 155 yards Saturday, has been on campus only a few months. His pedigree and preparedness all but assured positive early returns — and he undoubtedly dazzled during his Jordan-Hare Stadium debut.
Yet it was Gatewood, now entering his second college season, who created the most buzz. He was a part-time starter in high school whose strong arm intrigued coaches and whose general inaccuracy gave many of those same coaches designs on making Gatewood a tight end. Malzahn always felt Gatewood's completion percentage could be improved, which would make him one of the nation's most intriguing quarterbacks.
Gatewood was 8-of-12 on this day. He completed two touchdown passes to Seth Williams, the second a magisterial toss aimed high to elude a pair of nearby defenders, and showed obvious signs of improvement. His delivery is repeatable. His footwork lacks the choppiness of yesteryear. His passing competence was at least at Nick Marshall's level Saturday, which Malzahn will accept with a smile on his face.
Why? Because Gatewood's best skill wasn't on display. Teammates say Gatewood is a jarring presence in the run game when he's permitted to lower his shoulders and use his 6-foot-5, 235-pound body to win collisions.
What does he look like in those situations?
"A running back ... or Cam Newton," wideout Matthew Hill said, "I'm not going to sit here and lie to you — he doesn't like being compared to Cam Newton, but that's just the only person you can compare him to."
Malzahn on Saturday reiterated his desire to create a pecking order at quarterback, which he believes will help create offseason chemistry. Though he didn't tip his hand after the scrimmage, Malzahn clearly thinks a lot of Gatewood's potential as a dual-threat guy. And his year-over-year improvement. Gatewood is the clear favorite to be atop that pecking order, though Nix, for his part, has outperformed even the most optimistic projections through four months of college ball.
Nix threw the ball with authority Saturday, already has an advanced understanding of pocket management, clearly discerns good risks from bad ones in the passing game and showed plenty of acceleration when pressing the edge in zone-read machinations.
Junior Malik Willis put together a good performance — 9-of-10 for 95 yards including a long touchdown throw to Hill — but started the day running with the second-team offense. Gatewood and Nix, two younger players, split time with the first-team offense. That dynamic pushes Willis' bid to win the job into question, though Willis' accuracy on this day was beyond reproach.
That leaves us here: Two quarterbacks with accuracy issues in their past walked into Jordan-Hare Saturday and made some of the best throws we've ever seen from them. They played with confidence. They threw the ball with purpose. A-Day is nothing more than a glorified scrimmage, of course, but simply completing those kinds of throws against this kind of defense says something about Auburn's new-found ability to coax improvement at quarterback.
It's something Auburn badly needs — and it looks like something Malzahn finally may have figured out.
