What will life be like for the Auburn offense this season without former QB Nick Marshall?

Jeremy Johnson, who has the potential to be the best passer to put on a Tigers uniform since Cam Newton’s departure in 2010, inherits the starting quarterback role after waiting patiently behind Marshall for the last two seasons.

His abilities as a passer should bring a new dimension to a Tigers offense that previously relied on a converted defensive back to line up under center, but is Johnson mobile enough to run Gus Malzahn’s brand of offense?

Based on what he told AL.com, Malzahn seems to think the answer is “yes.”

“He can flat out throw it,” Malzahn said. “He can make every throw that you ask him to do, but he’s a better runner than people think. We didn’t ask him to run the past couple of years, but he’s a big, athletic guy.”

Seeing limited action in 13 games in the last two seasons, Johnson has attempted just 11 rushes for 40 yards and had minus-7 yards on four carries last season.

Malzahn said Johnson “probably” runs a 4.6 in the 40-yard dash, which indicates the 6-foot-5, 240-pounder should be plenty big and plenty fast enough to regularly run the ball in the zone-read option offense.

But listening to Johnson speak about his priorities at SEC Media Days last week gave reason to believe that a change in offensive philosophy could be on the way for the Tigers in 2015.

“I don’t too much work on running. Running just comes with running,” Johnson told AL.com. “I’ve really just been working on getting down my timing routes with my receivers and working on my deep balls.”

If the Tigers are going to air the ball out, Johnson will have a very solid group of receivers to throw to this season, including preseason All-SEC selection D’haquille Williams and senior Ricardo Louis.

Will that be enough?

It seems as though Malzahn’s offense works best when a dual-threat quarterback is at the helm.

In each of Auburn’s trips to the BCS Championship Game in the last five seasons, there was a mobile quarterback engineering Malzahn’s offense. Newton ran for 1,473 yards in 2010 and Marshall gained 1,103 on the ground in 2013.

In Malzahn’s first season on The Plains as offensive coordinator in 2009, he utilized “pass-first” quarterback Chris Todd to lead an offense that ranked 17th in the country with 33.3 points per game for a 8-5 team.

Following the Tigers’ national championship run with the dual-threat Newton in 2010, Malzahn again returned to less mobile quarterbacks in 2011 by rotating Barrett Trotter and Clint Moseley, while utilizing Kiehl Frazier in running situations. Production dropped nearly 16 points per game.

So after another successful two years of offensive play since Malzahn’s return as head coach with a running quarterback under center, one has to wonder if Johnson will be asked to do more than pay lip service to the idea of regularly running with the football if the Tigers are going to find themselves atop the SEC West at the end of November.