Rarely do SEC teams find themselves with the luxury of a third-year backup quarterback on their roster like Auburn has with Cord Sandberg.

When Sandberg, a former minor league baseball prospect with the Philadelphia Phillies, made his return to football for his freshman year with Auburn in 2018, he landed at No. 3 on the depth chart behind Jarrett Stidham and Malik Willis. Last season, Sandberg was Bo Nix's immediate backup at QB. He's appeared in three games overall for the Tigers.

And he'll have to fight hard this preseason to keep his No. 2 spot at quarterback in a season where depth at the position will be ultra-valuable.

Among a handful of other new faces at QB, Bowling Green transfer Grant Loy appears to be pushing Sandberg the hardest through three weeks of fall camp.

In the team's second scrimmage over the weekend in Jordan-Hare Stadium, all quarterbacks except for Nix went live, with Loy receiving the most snaps at the second-string QB spot, according to Gus Malzahn.

"We've been impressed with him so far," Malzahn said of Loy. "I believe Cord Sandberg probably got the most reps behind him, and then the others either got one or two series as we went. Chad (Morris) is just trying to get some order to it, behind Bo. I think overall, he's been pretty well-pleased so far."

Loy was the first backup quarterback mentioned by Malzahn following the first scrimmage, as well, receiving "quite a few reps" in that practice.

Had Morris, the Tigers' new offensive coordinator and a good friend of Malzahn's in the coaching industry, not taken the Auburn job, Loy would likely be playing his final season elsewhere.

Morris, the head coach at Arkansas for the previous two seasons, had begun recruiting the 6-foot-5 quarterback to play for the Razorbacks when he entered his name in the transfer portal in November.

When Auburn's offense felt it needed added depth under center this offseason — and experienced depth, at that — Morris knew just which grad transfer to call.

"I fell in love with the coaches right away, and I could just tell they were guys you wanted to be around every day," Loy said in his Senior Spotlight interview on Auburn's team website. "After being here for about two months and being around the coaches and the guys, I definitely made the right decision. Regardless of whatever happens, I am happy to be here."

Loy logged 27 game appearances at Bowling Green, including seven starts last season, where he completed 56.7% of his passes for 1,137 yards, six touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

His allure as a promising backup lies largely in his dual-threat prowess, though. Loy ran for 427 yards and four touchdowns last season. In Auburn's first week of camp — before he had begun chipping away at the quarterback depth chart — Loy's athleticism and strength at 6-foot-5 and 230 pounds had Malzahn working him at H-back within the offense.

"He’s off to a really good start and I know his teammates have been very impressed with him since he’s been here," Malzahn said of Loy.

Sandberg and 3-star true freshman Chayil Garnett round out the Tigers' scholarship QBs, with second-year player Trey Lindsey and true freshman Sawyer Pate providing more depth as walk-ons.

And Morris needs to have them all ready for SEC play more than ever before in 2020. The Tigers currently have 16 players unavailable for practice after nine COVID-19 cases on the team two weeks ago.

We know Nix wasn't one of those players, but he could had been. A handful of quarterbacks could be forced into quarantine during any given game week this season, which is why Morris is readying all his QBs for the spotlight — from Nix to the walk-ons.

"He's just super smart with preparing his quarterbacks," Malzahn said of Morris. "That's what always stood out to me about Chad. He's just a great teacher. But the preparation he does for games with his quarterbacks is just as good as it gets. I think that's really his strength."

After personnel meetings Monday, Auburn returns to the practice field Tuesday, with 15 practice sessions left to complete over the final three weeks of fall camp.

Players were tested for COVID-19 Sunday and will be again Wednesday.

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