Jeremy Johnson entered the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama Monday to a healthy applause and a horde of autograph-seekers armed with footballs and mini-helmets.

The media throng surrounding Johnson later in the morning didn’t reach Johnny Manziel levels, but it was clear who owned the floor during the player segment on Day 1 of SEC Media Days, college football’s grand preseason spectacle.

Auburn’s first-year starter epitomizes what’s considered hot in college football — dual-threat quarterbacks acting as the face of a preseason elite. Johnson’s the conductor of an exciting-to-watch uptempo offense expected to produce sizable numbers in Year 3 under Gus Malzahn.

RELATED: VIDEO — Gus Malzahn excited about Jeremy Johnson

His updated preseason Heisman hype (as the SEC’s co-frontrunner over Dak Prescott) further pushes the narrative that Johnson should be one of the nation’s best players this fall.

What does he think about the incessant hype and massive expectations?

Behind a cool demeanor and wide smile, Johnson remained tight-lipped.

“That’s not my concern right now,” Johnson said. “All I can do is control what I can control and that’s getting better each and every game.”

Since the conclusion of spring practice, Johnson’s proudly worn the label as the SEC’s most-hyped player, due in large part to the league’s lack of big names returning at such a spotlighted position.

In a smaller setting outside of the madness inside the main ballroom, Barrett Sallee, Bleacher Report’s lead SEC writer, asked Johnson about his relationship with Cam Newton, the former Auburn Heisman winner who worked with Johnson from a development standpoint during the spring.

RELATED: Johnson gives Auburn new dimension offensively

Johnson paused, thought about his response, and delivered an obvious deflection.

“My main focus right now is to just get better each and every game,” Johnson said. “All the individual accolades will come with that. AS long as we get better each and every game and find ways to win tough games this season, a lot of the individual accolades will come with that.”

Spoken like a player who has been coached to avoid the comparisons associated with ‘Newton 2.0′ talk as the centerpiece of Malzahn’s zone-read scheme.

According to Malzahn, the mastermind behind the Tigers’ total offense machine, it sounds like Johnson could very well produce record-setting, Newton-esque numbers if he stays healthy.

“We’re going to have the same offensive philosophy and the foundation every year, but we are going to build the offense around the quarterback’s strengths,” Malzahn said. “Jeremy has the ability. He can flat out throw it. We didn’t ask him to run the past couple of years, but he’s a big, athletic guy.”