Joey Gatewood is officially a backup.

After he and true freshman Bo Nix entered fall camp as "1 and 1a" in Auburn's quarterback race, the former 5-star Nix emerged the starter Tuesday.

It was long assumed during Auburn football's offseason that if Nix was to be named the quarterback, the Tigers would find a way to utilize Gatewood's rare athletic capabilities.

But if Gatewood is to have packages in the offense come Aug. 31 against Oregon, Malzahn isn't at all showing his hand 10 days out from the season opener.

"I'm not ready to say that right now," Malzahn said when asked if Gatewood will have a role in the offense. "But, you know, I have a lot of confidence in him. But I'm not ready to say any kind of plans for the first game or anything like that."

A popular spring favorite to win the job because of his running ability and size, Gatewood lost because his arm talent fell short of Nix's during fall camp. Auburn's first-team offense continually scored more often in scrimmage settings with Nix under center rather than Gatewood.

While both can run, Gatewood's blend of power and speed has been raved about by teammates since his arrival last season. An early live scrimmage last fall "made a difference" for a young Gatewood still grasping the offense, and a live scrimmage in the spring led to teammates claiming he's nearly impossible to tackle in the open field.

"I will say this about Joey, and I told him this: He's going to help us win games this year," Malzahn said. "There's no doubt in my mind."

It's not uncommon for athletically distinguished backup quarterbacks to experiment at other positions along the offense to help the team succeed. Gatewood's 6-foot-5 frame certainly lends itself to, at least physically, opportunities to contribute at multiple spots.

But as of now, his No. 1 job to Malzahn is to be the backup quarterback behind Nix.

"I'm not ready to say that right now," Malzahn said of Gatewood playing another position besides quarterback. "... He’s our backup quarterback that we have a lot of confidence in. I told him we’re going to need him this year to be ready. We’ll see what happens with everything. It gives us a lot of flexibility so we’ll see what that means moving forward."

Nix and Gatewood have been attached at the hip during practices since the spring, and the new starter is confident the man looking over his shoulder will keep his head up and continue to improve.

"Joey’s a great guy," Nix said. "He’s a great quarterback. Our relationship obviously grew over summer, over fall camp. We were together all the time with workouts and on the field stuff. Me and Joey, we have a good relationship. It’s tough. These kinds of situations are always tough, but Joey is going to continue to get better, I’m going to continue to get better, and we’ll see where it takes us."