It looks like we won’t find out who is destined to become the next hot Heisman Trophy candidate until the fall.
After 15 spring practices and several staff meetings, coach Gus Malzahn is moving forward with redshirt freshman Joey Gatewood and early enrollee Bo Nix over junior Malik Willis and redshirt freshman Cord Sandberg. Malzahn made the announcement this week at one of Auburn’s “Ambush Tour” spring speaking events in Dothan, Alabama.
“We left spring ball with Joey Gatewood and Bo Nix really 1 and 1A,” Malzahn told reporters at the gathering. “One of those two guys will be our starting quarterback in our first game. They’ll compete during the summer and in fall camp, and we’ll make a decision.”
Man, and that’s after all those “Joey is the next Cam” comments after the spring game.
I’m sure whoever makes the ultimate cut will be ready to deal with this.
Auburn’s starting quarterback will be greeted with arguably the nation’s most demanding schedule, as the Tigers have to face six teams who have appeared among the top 10 in early preseason rankings — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Oregon and Texas A&M. Auburn opens Aug. 31 against Oregon inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Eh, that’s no sweat for the Gus touch. He’s the quarterback whisperer.
Get The Picture 
Seems to me like someone is trying to keep someone from entering the portal.
I have a feeling it’s going to be a rough year on the Plains.
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One can only hope, ee.
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Don’t think that is the case in this situation, although many coaches are playing it this way due to the recent transfer craze. Gatewood got most of the ink all spring but Nix is a Barn legacy with deep ties to the program. Gus is under such scrutiny these days he probably doesn’t want to put all his chips on one horse at this time, especially since many of the fans had already hailed Nix as the incoming savior. Kid has just been on campus 4 months, this could be a legit competition in August.
Gus cannot afford to lose any more fans at this point, I think he is just playing both sides as a means to keep things patched up. The schedule will add enough stress to this tenuous relationship on its own, doesn’t need him to pour gas on the QB fire by strongly backing a guy who could fail. Gatewood wouldn’t be the first Aubie QB to win the Spring and then fall on his face by mid-season.
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I don’t see Gus there after this season – maybe not even into November.
It’s obvious that he needs a fantastic dual-threat QB to run his system effectively. I don’t see anyone over there anywhere near Cam or Nick….
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7 & 4 and out the door!
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Agreed. 7-4 is probably about right. Still cant wrap my head around the fact that Auburn has paid Gus 49 million for 4 losses a year.
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Give me the success rate of freshman and 2nd year fresh in the SEC, with that o-line…should the red shirt be the next cam, he’ll have to get accused/arrested of possible theft, depart from that university, then be awarded to the highest bidder…as ee stated the transport portal will resolve the rest of the mess…and is anybody really sure the barners will write a gu$ check after this year, cau$e that’ll be a nice one….
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Go ahead and open up the Portal account guys.
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Saw this today. The QB whisperer really has himself a good reputation among the NFL ranks. This ought to really help them in recruiting too. Nothing attracts elite QB’s like a high school offense and a coach that can’t develop them.
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https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/auburn-football/jarrett-stidham-auburn-gus-malzahn-michael-lombardi-train-qb/
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