Quarterback cuts coming soon
AUBURN | With Sean White sitting out while he recovers from a broken arm, new offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey will have five quarterbacks to work with at the start of spring practice.
It won’t be five for long, though.
“Chip, in time, he’ll narrow it down,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. “He doesn’t really have a timetable right now but obviously he knows you can’t get through spring with five quarterbacks. So, in the time that he feels comfortable and confident, that’s when he’ll narrow things down.”
That narrowing down process begins Tuesday afternoon with the first of 15 practices. The quarterbacks will get 20 minutes of 7-on-7 work and an additional 10 minutes of 1-on-1 the first two days.
Malzahn, however, isn’t expecting to name a starter by the end of spring, especially with White unable to compete.
“We are sensitive to the fact that Sean is going to have a hard time going through spring,” Malzahn said.
Jarrett Stidham, who joined the team at the end of bowl practice, would have to be considered the favorite. The sophomore threw for 1,265 yards and 12 touchdowns in 10 games as a true freshman at Baylor.
He’ll be competing against senior John Franklin III, sophomore Tyler Queen, redshirt freshman Woody Barrett and true freshman Malik Willis.
“Chip is going to throw (Stidham) in there. He's going to throw all five of them in there,” Malzahn said. “We got enough things early, especially the first two days, to be able to evaluate them. He gets a chance to evaluate them throwing the football, making reads, communicating and all that. I would say it's probably a little more accelerated pace to evaluate the quarterbacks.
“The goal is after the first week that Chip will have a good idea of at least their talent and we're they're at from an experience or mental standpoint so he can make some decisions to start repping just a handful of guys instead of five. That's by design. At the same time, he's coming into this thing new and he wants to give everybody a chance to compete, to win jobs. That's his approach.”
Franklin, who plans to graduate in May, played in all 13 games last year including a start against Vanderbilt. He completed 14-of-26 passes for 204 yards with one touchdown, and ran for 430 yards and two touchdowns on 46 carries.
Malzahn didn’t rule out Franklin moving to another position such as wide receiver.
“John is open to helping the team with whatever. We just felt strongly that he start out and try to win the job at quarterback, so that’s what we’ll do,” he said.
Queen has been limited his first two years at Auburn with several different injuries. Barrett redshirted last fall while Willis enrolled in January.
“(Barrett) knows he’s competing now, and you can see a difference in him,” Malzahn said. “He did a good job specifically in bowl prep when we scrimmaged and all that, so I know he’s excited. He’s worked really hard up to this point, and I know Chip is ready to see what he can do, too.”