New orange and blue cleats shining atop the freshly cut grass and field paint on a warm spring day signified one thing for the Auburn football team — a new beginning.
The Tigers are looking to rebound from a 2015 campaign that saw them go from a preseason No. 6 ranking to a disappointing 7-6 record.
“Our guys are extremely excited to get out there,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said before the Tigers’ first practice on Tuesday. “They’ve done a super job up to this point with our mat drills in the weight room. You can tell this is a very close group. You can also tell that they’ve got a chip on their shoulder from last year, which I think is very healthy.”
However, a new year doesn’t necessarily mean different problems.
Four players will compete this spring, and possibly longer, to solve one of last year’s biggest problems — the quarterback play.
Jeremy Johnson and Sean White split starts at the position in 2015, and both struggled at times.
Johnson, the heir apparent to former quarterback Nick Marshall, started the first three games of the season but threw six interceptions.
White took over for Johnson in the middle of the season before a knee injury forced him to miss four games. The rising sophomore threw for over a hundred more yards than Johnson, but he tossed only one touchdown in seven games.
Much like the team as a whole, the two quarterbacks have attempted to put last season in the rearview mirror.
“This is a new year, and that’s what we’ve been preaching to our guys,” Malzahn said. “You can use those things as far as having that chip on your shoulder to help motivate you, but they’re moving forward.”
Tyler Queen and John Franklin III are expected to challenge the two returners for the starting job.
Queen redshirted in 2015 after undergoing Tommy John surgery early in the season. He will be on a “pitch count” of 50 throws per day this spring, but Malzahn believes his elbow is progressing nicely.
Franklin III transferred from East Mississippi Community College and enrolled in January.
Many anticipate Franklin III, a rising junior, will make a strong push for the job, as Malzahn has expressed his willingness to return to a fast-paced offensive attack.
The 6-foot-1, 174-pound Franklin was recruited as an athlete and is the best runner of the four. He has been compared to Marshall, the orchestrator of the read-option offense that led Auburn to the national championship game in 2013.
“Tempo is a big factor with us, and at times, we didn’t have great tempo last year,” Malzahn said. “We will play extremely fast in the spring and just get our guys back in that mode.”
The quarterbacks will be given equal reps in the 13 practices leading up to the spring game on April 9, and Malzahn did not rule out the chance of having live practices in the spring, which he did in 2013 when Marshall was competing with Johnson, Kiehl Frazier and Jonathan Wallace for the job.
“Right now, we’ll have great competition in that [quarterback] room,” Malzahn said. “Everything they do, we’ll make sure we chart, we grade everything, and see what comes of it. My experience is when you’ve got good competition, it brings out the best in everybody.”
The coaching staff hopes that is the case, as significant improvement will be needed if Auburn is to exceed low expectations this year.
The Tigers averaged 173.6 passing yards per game in 2015, which ranked 110th in the nation.
Malzahn is confident that a return to the up-tempo, run-first offense will work wonders for the passing game, regardless of which quarterback ends up taking snaps.
“It’s a new year, and from a coach’s standpoint — especially a head coach’s standpoint — you evaluate the things from last year that you need to improve on,” Malzahn said. “We know what they are, and we’re going to go out there and redeem our self.”
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