In an end to the least-suspenseful quarterback battle in the SEC, Gus Malzahn announced Jeremy Johnson as Auburn’s starting quarterback with a tweet on Monday afternoon.

A rising junior, Johnson was long expected to succeed Nick Marshall as Auburn’s starting quarterback after serving as backup last fall. Throughout spring, Malzahn insisted that Johnson was competing with Sean White, but Johnson apparently did more than enough to end that competition by the end of spring ball.

In Auburn’s spring game last weekend, Johnson was 14-for-22 for 252 yards and two touchdowns, including four completions of 25 yards or longer. Johnson started last year’s season opener while Marshall served a suspension, throwing for 243 yards and two touchdowns in the first half before Marshall took over. In all, Johnson appeared in seven games last season and threw for 436 yards while completing 75.7 percent of his passes.