Cox won’t be doing 'any of that spinning stuff'

AUBURN | The CoxCat could be making a return to Auburn’s offense this season but Chandler Cox insists it won’t be the same one that included his infamous pirouettes against Clemson in 2016.

Cox actually proclaimed the CoxCat dead following the arrival of offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey after the 2016 season, but he was spotted taking direct snaps from center in the media viewing portion of Monday’s practice.

“I’m excited about it. We’re not going to be doing any of that spinning stuff like we did two years back, stuff I did in high school,” Cox said. “I’m kind of a guy, as you guys know, I’ll do anything. If they want me back there, if they want me at receiver, if they want me at H-back, I’ll do it.

“They wanted me to take some snaps and so I did. We’ll see where it goes. I’m not so sure what we’re going to do with it, but I’ll be ready just in case.”

Cox and JaTarvious Whitlow were both taking Wildcat snaps in Monday’s practice and Gus Malzahn added Wednesday that he’s looking at two other players in the role, which Kerryon Johnson used to score a number of his 18 rushing touchdowns last season including three at Missouri.

The other two players in the Wildcat? Malzahn wants to keep that a secret for now.

“We have not exactly figured out who will be the first one to do that but four different guys are rotating. And I’m not going to tell you who the other two are,” said Malzahn with a smirk on his face.

Malzahn is not even ready to commit to Auburn using the Wildcat this season despite its effectiveness in the red zone last fall.

“I don’t even know how much Chip is planning on using that package and all that,” he said. “We’ll see where that goes but in the fall camp you’re just trying to install everything and you just happened to be there that day we installed that.”