Auburn coach Gus Malzahn surprised everyone Tuesday when he announced redshirt freshman Sean White would start at quarterback over preseason Heisman candidate Jeremy Johnson in Saturday’s home game vs. Mississippi State.

RELATED: Introducing Sean White, Auburn’s new QB

The news sparked instant reaction — some positive, some negative — from several notable analysts who routinely cover the Tigers.

Paul Finebaum interviewed several of these media members during Tuesday’s radio show, asking their thoughts on the situation and whether it was the right move for a struggling offense.

Here’s a few of the highlights in transcript form:

Cole Cubelic (Alabama Media Group, radio host, former Auburn lineman)

“(Jeremy) just has not played well, bottom line. So it’s been very surprising to me to see a guy that had shown flashes of brilliance in meaningful games and been in the system for two years come out and really just not even seem like he could read a defense and just not make any quality decisions whatsoever.

“It says that (Malzahn) misread his quarterback, and they did not have him properly prepared. There’s no two ways around that. That’s where some of the questions from fans, former players and alumni come in is that “How did you think this guy was going to be the guy? What was it about Jeremy Johnson that led you to believe that you were going to be able to go out and put together a season to contend for an SEC west title?” As far as the timing is concerned, I think Gus Malzahn is making the right move. You’re going to lose to Mississippi State with Jeremy Johnson in the lineup or not. You’ve got San Jose State the next week, and then you have extra time because of a bye week and then a Thursday night game against Kentucky. From a repetition standpoint, getting Sean White implemented to be the quarterback for the foreseeable future, I think now was the time.”

Bruce Feldman (Fox Sports columnist)

“I think Gus Malzahn got the benefit of the doubt, and by proxy, Jeremy Johnson got the benefit of the doubt because we in the media bought into, ‘Gus Malzahn has made it work almost every place else.’ They even brought him to Hoover for SEC Media Days. A lot of times don’t put that on a quarterback who’s really not established, and quite honestly, he wasn’t established outside of the people in the Vegas expert odds.”

Danny Kanell (ESPN analyst)

“I think Gus Malzahn is worried about the future of Jeremy Johnson and where he goes from here. I think you’ve seen a three-game sample sign and what you’ve seen has been atrocious. It’s been really bad and he has not been able to fix any of the mistakes and so you’ve got to go in a different direction. Jeremy Johnson looks shell-shocked. He looks like a deer in the headlights out there. He’s had a poor start. He hasn’t been able to eliminate his mistakes, so you go in a different direction. Hopefully for Jeremy Johnson, I like him. I think he’s a nice young man. Hopefully he can hit the refresh button and if you have to go back to him, maybe he can come capitalize on a second start. But I think Gus Malzahn had no choice but to make a switch.”