No definite plans for backup QBs

AUBURN | Sean White was named Auburn’s starting quarterback Thursday. What does that mean for senior Jeremy Johnson and junior John Franklin, who finished behind White in the three-way battle?

Well, Gus Malzahn is not ready to go there just yet.

“Right now, we've just named Sean the starter. Not ready to say who's two and three yet,” Malzahn said.

Malzahn is not even ready to commit to playing either Johnson or Franklin this season.

“We'll just see how the season unfolds with that,” he said.

Johnson was Auburn’s starting quarterback to begin last season and led the Tigers to their best win, a 26-10 victory at Texas A&M. Franklin signed with Auburn out of East Mississippi Community College and enrolled in January.

“Jeremy had a very good fall camp, very competitive. He's much improved. He's in a very good spot,” Malzahn said. “John Franklin competed extremely hard, and like I've said before, he improved greatly from the spring.”

Most schools don’t sign a junior college quarterback to sit the bench but White was never intimidated having to compete against Franklin.

“It’s the coach’s job to bring in somebody better than you every year, that’s their job, that’s why they get paid to put the best players they can find on the field,” White said. “When they try to bring somebody in, that’s their job. It was for me to just go out and prove I was the best quarterback for the team.”

Franklin produced some big plays running the zone read during both spring and fall drills so it’s certainly a possibility Malzahn will use his running ability this season as a Wildcat quarterback or with a set package of plays.

Johnson was used as a goal line and short yardage quarterback when White started six games last season. He's still considered a team leader by many of Auburn's players.

"He's a real team guy, family guy and he's happy for Sean,” senior wide receiver Marcus Davis said. “He told me he's going to do whatever it takes to help the team. That is the type of things we need, those positive vibes. I'm pretty sure he felt some type of way because everybody wanted to be the starter but at the end of the day, he's going to do whatever it takes to help the team.”

As for White, Malzahn said he’ll get all the first-team reps as Auburn puts the final touches on its game plan for No. 2 Clemson.

“He's a tough guy. He's in a good spot. He's in a good spot to lead this team. The team's going to rally around him so I'm excited for him,” Malzahn said.