One year after we crowned Alabama quarterback Jacob Coker the second coming of Joe Namath, then watched him toil on the bench behind career backup Blake Sims, we’re doing the same thing with Jeremy Johnson.

Many in the media already are discussing the 6-foot-5, 240-pound Johnson as an NFL prospect. That’s something Nick Marshall couldn’t become (without a position change) after two years as Auburn’s starting quarterback, though he was good enough to lead the team to a national championship appearance.

But while some of us are talking NFL, coach Gus Malzahn isn’t going to hand Johnson his offense this spring, at least not in any official capacity. Johnson is splitting reps with Sean White, Tyler Queen and Jason Smith. White, a redshirt freshman, started practice splitting first-team reps with Johnson.

Back to Coker. FSU coach Jimbo Fisher told TideSports.com that Coker was “much more talented than anything they’ve had,” implying that he could be a better quarterback for Bama than Greg McElroy or AJ McCarron. That only served to inflame expectations. But Coker, who does possess a tremendous arm, didn’t arrive in Tuscaloosa until the summer.

Things never quite clicked, for whatever reason — some reports described Coker as a slow learner of the offense, and others depicted a player who didn’t establish himself with his teammates as the offensive leader — and Sims, who at one point was practicing with the running backs, became a surprise starter, never relinquishing the position. Alabama’s “next great quarterback” will have another opportunity this fall, but for all the predicted greatness, threw just 59 passes in ’14.

The situation at Auburn is much different, though, than the one Coker faced in Tuscaloosa last fall. Johnson has thrown 78 passes in Malzahn’s offense the last two seasons, learning behind Nick Marshall and even starting the first half of last year’s season opener against Arkansas while the latter served a suspension.

In addition to two years of practice on The Plains, Johnson ran a similar offense for two years at nearby Carver High School. He’s completed 73.1 percent of his passes with the Tigers. In other words, he’s much closer to converting his physical talent into production and competency within an offensive system.

“The fact he’s been in our program for two years, and ran a similar offense in high school, he understands everything that goes with it,” Malzahn said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We have a lot of confidence in Jeremy. He’s going to have to go out there and win the starting job, but he’s in a very good spot and we have a lot of confidence in him.”

Whether this “competition” is designed as a carrot to keep Johnson straining to improve, as a mechanism to ensure that Auburn sorts out and prepares a backup, or both, there’s little room for a surprise starter at quarterback this fall.

As for the leadership part, it sounds like Johnson’s leaving little to chance there as well. A recent AL.com story reported about a player whose confidence is as large as his stature, and who seems to be earning the trust of this teammates.

“I’m looking forward to bringing everybody in to where if I say we’re going to move right, the whole team moves right,” Johnson said, according to AL.com. “That’s the type of leader I’m trying to become for this team.

“My specific goal this spring is to win the starting job first and then become a leader and build team chemistry. … I’m just trying to become a leader first to where my team can follow me, but mainly my goal is to win a national championship, to be honest with you.”

At some point it may help Johnson and the offense if Malzahn names him the starter — after spring practice, perhaps. That way he can get some extra work with D’haquille Williams and the other Auburn receivers, who will know which guy they can count on to get them the ball in the fall.

In the meantime, don’t hold your breath waiting for a surprise behind center. Malzahn and offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee already have spent time figuring out how to tweak the offense to suit Johnson’s skill set.

Naming Johnson as the Tigers starter is a matter of when, not if.