The badlands are where Stidham does some good thinking
ATLANTA | Jarrett Stidham has some thinking to do and he knows the perfect out-of-the-way place to do it.
Auburn’s third-year sophomore quarterback, who is considering an early jump to the NFL, will spend a good portion of this week in the badlands of Pecos County, Texas.
“I’m about to go hunting for three days out in the middle of nowhere, right north of Mexico. I’ll just kind of look at everything then,” Stidham said Monday following Auburn’s loss to UCF in the Peach Bowl. “I haven’t thought about it much but I’ll dig deep into it over the next three or four days.”
Stidham, who received an evaluation from the NFL Draft Advisory Board, has until Jan. 15 to submit his name for the 2018 draft or opt to return for his junior season.
The former Baylor transfer finished his first season at Auburn completing 246-of-370 passes (66.5 percent) for 3,158 yards with 18 touchdowns and six interceptions. He joins Dameyune Craig as the only quarterbacks in school history to pass for more than 3,000 yards in a single season.
“Those quarterbacks get more blame than they deserve, they get more credit than they deserve. He does a great job of staying on an even keel and handling that,” Auburn offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey said. “He’s mature. As he’s played, I think he’s gotten better as the year has gone on. Going through the SEC for the first time, I think he’s done a nice job. We’re very close. I think he’s a great young man. The Auburn people, I think, are proud of what kind of guy he is and how he represents us.”
But Stidham and Auburn ended the season on a down note in the bowl loss to UCF. While Stidham threw for over 300 yards for only the second time this season, he also fumbled for a fourth-straight game and threw two crucial interceptions in the fourth quarter.
“Very disappointed, obviously. We had a real chance to tie it up at the end and it is just very disappointing,” Stidham said. “We just didn’t execute. That is really what it comes down to. We didn’t really make a whole lot of adjustments at halftime. What we were doing was going to work if we would have just executed the right way.”
So far, two Auburn players have announced their draft decisions. Defensive tackle Dontavius Russell will return for his senior season while running back Kerryon Johnson plans to enter the 2018 NFL Draft after rushing for 2,494 yards in three years at Auburn.