Willis taking next step at QB
AUBURN | With Jarrett Stidham limited during the early portion of spring drills, Auburn’s backup quarterbacks are in the spotlight.
Sophomore Malik Willis, Stidham’s backup last season, is thriving as he works exclusively with the first-team offense for the first time.
“You can tell that Malik has taken that next step, maturity-wise,” senior H-back Chandler Cox said. “He’s really kind of stepped into that role. I texted him the other night and said, ‘You’re the guy right now, because obviously Jarrett’s not in there. Just lead us. Don’t be afraid to lead.’
"He’s been awesome. He’s growing up the way he needs to.”
Willis’ playing time was limited last season, but preparing in practice each week to play and the seven games he came in as a backup turned out to be very beneficial.
“There’s something to be said when you go out there and you’re playing with the first group from a quarterback standpoint. He has seemed more comfortable,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. “Of course, he should having a year under his belt. He’s done a good job so far with his approach, just the attention to detail.
“Things are becoming natural for him. You can tell he’s not having to think about a whole lot of stuff. He’s starting to just play football. I think that’s really important.”
Stidham is expected back to full speed when the Tigers return from spring break on March 19. For at least the next two practices, Willis will continue to work with the starters while true freshman Joey Gatewood directs the second-team offense.
Gatewood is still in the process of learning the offense and transitioning from high school to college. He’s not ready to begin seriously competing with Willis for the backup role just yet.
“I mean, we've got a lot of confidence in Malik,” Malzahn said. “He was our backup quarterback last year and just like I said, I mean, he really is taking a step forward and he looks like a starter out there. You know, I'd say right now Joey is just learning the foundation, so it's really hard to say, but we have a lot of confidence in Malik.
“You know, last year, Malik would have played — especially the second half of the season, we would have felt pretty good that we could have run most of our offense. We've got a lot of confidence in Malik.”
Auburn will return to the practice fields for two more workouts this week on Tuesday and Thursday before taking off a week for spring break.