It’s no mystery that Auburn quarterback transfer John Franklin III is the Tigers’ most interesting new player this spring.

After last year’s struggle between Jeremy Johnson and Sean White, the Tigers are certainly looking for their next quarterback of the future, and many see Franklin as fitting that mold. Because of his size — listed at 6-foot-1, 174 pounds — he’s been compared to former Tigers signal caller Nick Marshall.

And although Marshall certainly wasn’t a prospect at the position at the next level, he executed Auburn’s offense, at times, flawlessly.

On Thursday, Auburn offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee could see and understand Franklin being compared to Marshall, but there’s one thing Franklin needs to do to become more like Marshall: put on some pounds.

“I think in our league it does (matter),” Lashlee said of the weight difference, via the Ledger-Inquirer. “If you look at Nick, in the first year he played around the 198 range or 200 and he didn’t take a lot of big hits because of the style player he was, but he still got nicked up a little bit. He had a little bit of a knee at one time and kind of hurt his shoulder one time. He came back in his senior year and was up to about 210 and that 10-12 pounds made a huge difference. He played the whole year and never missed a game and stayed healthy.”

Lashlee added that Franklin has already put on 10 pounds since he enrolled, and he also figures he’ll add some weight this summer. Getting Franklin around the 200 mark would be an added bonus and could certainly positively affect his ability to stay healthy this season.

Although Johnson and White are still in the quarterback race, most figure Franklin should emerge between the three this fall.

Marshall had his limitations in the passing game, but his 2,500-yard, 20 touchdown passing season in 2014, including adding another 11 rushing touchdowns, would be a welcomed site back on the Plains.