Gatewood, Nix using summer to develop as leaders

COLUMBUS, Ga. | It’s time for the QBs to prove their worth away from the gridiron.

The blue-chip freshman duo of Joey Gatewood and Bo Nix — one massive and bull-dozing, who shies from the athletic comparisons to Auburn’s most recent Heisman winner; the other smaller but considered more pocket-friendly, who hopes to follow in his father’s footsteps — passed all Gus Malzahn’s on-field tests in spring camp. He named them “1 and 1A” as the starting quarterback May 1.

Since then, the seventh-year Auburn coach and his staff have been — from afar — assessing the quarterbacks' leadership off the field.

“I think it’s really good for those two young guys — because we can’t be out there with the balls — it gives them an opportunity to really work on their leadership skills in front of their teammates,” Malzahn told reporters before an Auburn AMBUSH tour stop in Columbus. “A lot of times that’s when teams grow — without the coaches.

“We do have really, really strong leadership, really on both sides of the football. So, that gives those two guys a chance to develop themselves and establish themselves as a leader, and to take charge. I think it’s a good thing.”

Malzahn said he won’t be reading too much into what he hears about the two from assistants or team leaders, however.

“It’s kind of one of those deals that, as a coach, you wait until you get out there for fall camp,” Malzahn said. “You usually know pretty quick how things stand from a leadership standpoint.”

The pair of gun slingers are not only raw in their leadership, but also, obviously, in their on-field experience. Save for spring scrimmages, Gatewood played just one series last season as time winded down in the Music City Bowl, while Nix is a true freshman.

Either way, in the season opener Auburn will roll out a quarterback inexperienced at the college level for the first time since Nick Marshall began the 2013 season. But Malzahn considers his 2019 squad to be one of his most veteran on the Plains, and he plans to use the team’s collective experience to help either QB settle in comfortably.

“That is the reality — that the guy is going to be out there playing in his first real college football games against one of the better teams,” Malzahn said. “But we’ll have a plan for them, and we’re going to rely on the guys around them. We’ve got an experienced team. I really think we have a hungry team. That’s really one of the main things you look for as a coach.”