Malzahn hoping to avoid two-quarterback system

HOOVER | If all goes according to plan, Gus Malzahn will choose a starting quarterback during preseason practice and either Joey Gatewood or Bo Nix will remain with the first team throughout the season.

But when you’re dealing with a freshman quarterback playing in the SEC, it’s hard to imagine everything going exactly to plan.

“You know, ideally, you'd like to have a starter,” Malzahn said. “I'm open to whatever gives us the best chance of winning. But we would like to have a starter and a guy you'd hang your hat on.”

Gatewood, a redshirt freshman, and Nix, a true freshman, ended spring practice in a dead heat for the starting position. That competition will be renewed when fall drill get underway Aug. 2.

Sometime between then and the opening game against Oregon on Aug. 31, Malzahn and offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham will choose the starter. Malzahn insists there’s no timetable for a decision.

“We’ve got a good plan to evaluate our quarterbacks and put them in as many situations as possible,” Malzahn explained. “And then, when it’s time, usually what happens is that the whole team usually knows it, you know. So whenever that time happens, we’re going to name a starting quarterback.

“I hope that is earlier rather than later, but I’m not going to try to push it. I’m just going to let it happen.”

While Gatewood’s strength may be running the zone read, Malzahn insists Nix is also a threat running the ball.

“The good thing is that both of those guys can be a run threat, which I think is important,” he said. “Both can create when things break down. They showed that in the spring. They both have big-time arms. So the good thing is, I think we have two good options. It’s going to be a fierce battle. Both of them are great competitors.

“Both of them have handled themselves really good from a leadership standpoint understanding that that one of their biggest jobs is to earn the trust of their teammates. A big part of that is when you’re away from the coaches in the summer, so I’m really hoping that, when we get in fall camp, that it feels different.”

And Malzahn knows his best offenses, whether it was with Cam Newton in 2010 or Nick Marshall in 2013-14, have come with a dual-threat quarterback.

“Both those guys are going to be run threats,” he said. “When we’ve had a run threat at quarterback, that’s really a game-changer.”