Why I don't blame Joey Gatewood one bit for the way he handled his situation
There are a lot of people who are going to call Joey Gatewood a “quitter” for entering the transfer portal entering the final month of the 2019 regular season.
I’m not one of them.
If you’d rather read about how Gatewood is a selfish millennial, go search his name on Twitter instead of reading this column. I won’t be offended.
And if you do continue to read this, well, prepare to be offended.
Dare I say, I don’t blame Gatewood for his decision to enter the transfer portal. I realize that stance is different coming from a media member than a fan or a teammate, who are probably frustrated with the new reality. That is, Bo Nix is the one and only starting quarterback on the roster with any sort of experience. That’s with matchups against Georgia and Alabama still on the schedule.
Daunting, indeed. It’s especially daunting considering that in his second game against a top 10 team on the road, Nix struggled. Mightily. And while Nix couldn’t get Auburn out of its double-digit hole in the second half, Gatewood was relegated to the sidelines.
Gatewood did get that one carry — which went for 2 yards — to give him a stat line in 7 games this year. With his redshirt already out of the way last year, the 4-game threshold was never going to be a factor in his decision.
A couple of months ago, Gatewood had to make a decision. Whether he admitted it or not, Auburn announcing Nix as “QB1” a couple weeks ahead of the opener meant Gatewood had a decision to make. Transfer then and try not to waste a year of eligibility — nobody really knows what the NCAA deems waiver-worthy for immediate eligibility — or stick around and hope that his time comes. He stayed, which was admirable in itself considering Nix was younger and even more hyped.
Gus Malzahn repeatedly said throughout the year that there would be packages for Gatewood. He didn’t lie about that. Whether they were packages that Gatewood would like might have been a different discussion. His usage came mainly in the red zone and with the exception of the 7 total passes he threw, Gatewood was essentially a Wildcat quarterback.
See “2018 Justin Fields.”
Whether Malzahn used Gatewood so that he’d stay at Auburn or because he actually believed he’d help with the offense is a different discussion. Maybe it was a little of both. What we do know was that Malzahn was committed to Nix. It didn’t matter that there was growing fan frustration following his 15-for-35 performance against LSU.
On Sunday, Malzahn was asked about sticking with Nix. Here’s how that interaction went down:
Reporter: Are you committed to Bo (Nix) being the starter from here on out?
Malzahn: “We’re going to do whatever is best for our team, but right now, a lot of the things — Bo has been put in some pretty tough situations. There were some things he wanted back, but there (were) also some things he did well. So, he’ll continue to improve, and that’s how we’re looking at it.”
If I’m Gatewood and I show up for practice Monday and it’s business as usual, that’s a pretty telling sign that no changes are going to be made. Combined with those comments Sunday, that’s a pretty clear indication that Nix isn’t losing his job unless he gets hurt.
Maybe it was this interaction when he was held back by Malzahn as he was set to enter the game in one of his traditional red zone packages:
I think this was the final straw for Joey gatewood tbh. Smh..
pic.twitter.com/7GPoe5CypA— . (@ysltres) October 30, 2019
And for those saying Gatewood should have tried to stay and just work extremely hard in practice to win the job, I hear you. I don’t agree with you, though. There was nothing Gatewood could have done in a late-October practice for Malzahn to stop and say “you know what? I’m gonna bail on my 5-star freshman who I’ve bet all my chips on because Gatewood has been looking much better in practice lately.”
What about outperforming him in the games, you ask? The guy averaged 4.5 touches from scrimmage per game. It’s not exactly easy to change your coach’s mind with that limited of a workload.
To be clear, I’m not necessarily blaming Malzahn for how he handled this. I praised the way Malzahn was decisive in fall camp about naming Nix the starter, and I applauded his post-spring decision to announce Nix and Gatewood as the finalists in the quarterback battle, despite the fact that it resulted in the transfer of Malik Willis. I actually argued that I didn’t want to see packages for Gatewood in the opener because I didn’t want Nix to worry about looking over his shoulder.
This, however, is the risk with what Malzahn did. He’s now entering an extremely critical month for the future of his job, and he’ll do so with a true freshman quarterback who still looks inexperienced as a passer. Malzahn did and will continue to do what he believes is best for his team and his future. The same can be true of Gatewood.
There will absolutely be a market for someone with his skills, even though he does still need to develop more as a thrower. Gatewood or anyone paying attention to college football in 2019 can see that transfer quarterbacks are all the rage. Three of the top 4 Heisman Trophy candidates (in terms of current odds) are transfer quarterbacks, including the one who beat Auburn over the weekend. The past 2 Heisman winners were transfer quarterbacks.
Gatewood has a long way to go to develop into that type of player, but trying to follow that path would be a lot more appealing than sticking it out at Auburn and praying that a sudden change of heart or an injury opens the door.
(I’m not saying Gatewood would actively root for Nix to get hurt. The second-year quarterback was extremely complimentary of Nix as a leader. But the reality of Gatewood’s situation was that a healthy Nix was going to continue to block his path to becoming a starting quarterback.)
Whether you agree with Gatewood or not, he left because he wanted to become a starting quarterback. You know, like everybody in his position would. It wasn’t long ago that he was at the Elite 11 and Auburn fans were comparing him to Cam Newton.
Newton himself didn’t find playing time until he transferred. Maybe the same will be true of Gatewood. Like Florida fans who wondered what could have been with Newton, perhaps Auburn fans will one day wonder what would have happened had Malzahn given Gatewood a shot. We’ll never know.
One thing I do know? Gatewood doesn’t deserve blame for how he handled all of this.
It’s one thing to not get chance when the starting QB is not getting it done, but when Malzahn still didn’t send him in to run the Wildcat and instead sent in the injured Whitlow, I expect that was the end.
Nix is the better QB and its not close.
ART BRILES
No thank you
No
I mean, I guess if you want mass protests and rights at your school…
We’ll take the rights and leave the riots. ;)
Leaving now versus one month from now gains him nothing. If he had left after 4 games to preserve a year of eligibility then I would understand. I don’t wish him ill will. I hope he finds a place where he can play and becomes successful. I fully expected him to leave after this year anyways. This just screams of immaturity and is possibly an indication of why he didn’t win the starting job.
Bad take.. playing in 4 games or less does nothing. He’s already redshirted. Gatewood has been nothing but mature and a good teammate throughout the season. If he had left at the beginning of the year you could’ve said that but not now. Coaches can start contacting him now and he can find the best place to go instead of waiting till December/January when recruiting is really hot.
I realize he couldn’t redshirt, but it is a valid reason for leaving during the season. I actually wish he would have left before the season began. That would have made more since.
*sense
No it’s not. 2 games, 5 games or 11 games it wouldn’t matter. He couldn’t redshirt.
I don’t think you get what I said. I KNOW he can’t redshirt. I was saying when any player transfers in the middle of the year that can preserve eligibility there is a strategic and logical reason for doing so.
He can’t preserve a year of eligibility though..
But if he transferred before the season then he could have sat this one and played next year. At this point it would make more sense to stay this year and next and transfer out in December as a graduate and have the opportunity to get game snaps for 2 years instead of sitting a year and half like he will now.
And I don’t see the advantage the 4 weeks give him. He could still have finished the season with his teammates and had time to decide before the early signing period. But whatever floats his boat. This is all between him and his former teammates who still might have needed him.
He feels like it’s in his best interest. That’s not for you to figure out or make sense of. It’s his decision.
We agree…it’s not for me. But I still have the right to disagree with the decision. It has nothing to do with him being an Auburn player. I would feel the same no matter what player or team.
I think the early signing period is the thing. He waits till the end of the regular season and that leaves him what two weeks to make a decision. Starting now allows him to attend some games like Kelly Bryant last year. I agree with you that it would be nice if he waited till the end of the year but with the early signing period you also have to try to gain a scholarship for your preferred school before they are gone. It’s just the way things are heading right now.
Immaturity???????????? You didn’t see what the rest of us saw Saturday, and probably Joey, also? The offense is struggling. A coach who is supposed to be an offensive guru is allowing his team to go down in flames because he wouldn’t make a change at QB to maybe jump start a stale offense? A coach who seemed to play one QB come Hell or high water? A coach that made a decision at QB during that game to NOT do what it takes to TRY to find a way to move the ball and score points? A coach who let his magnificent defense down? Who let down practically ALL of the Auburn Family, well, except maybe you and a few others?
I believe that Joey saw that his coach let all the above people down, knew that he was stuck, and decided to pull out and re-start his recruiting to land on a team that wants him to play and become the QB that he is capable of becoming.
This was Joey taking care of himself because he felt that there was NO ONE at Auburn who would. that is NOT a sign of immaturity, that is a sign of a young man who waited until he absolutely knew what his future was at Auburn, nil. This is the sign of a mature thinking individual.
Well said Jody. I feel so bad for Joey. Malzahn gets so flipped out at games that he short circuits…..just watch his demeanor on the sidelines. About the only thing he is consistent about is making excuses and picking his nose on camera. Auburn can and will do much better once they get a dynamic and fair head coach.
Agreed Jody.
Get over yourself.
Joe Moorhead has done the same thing to the backup QB at MSU; talked him out of transferring, then not play him and waste his last years of eligibility. There are a number of people coaching college FB who are inept asses and poor excuses for human beings. I feel for you. The contract the coach has should reflect on the AD.
You’re about the dumbest mother f’er to ever comment on this thread. Nix is garbage. Malzahn said all spring and summer that it was close battle, now suddenly there was so much separation in fall? The fact is that little bastards last name is why he’s the starter. If it had been Rogers jones Washington etc that little shït would have never even been named the starter. Put the crack pipe down and walk away, moreover shut the fuuuuuuuuuuuck up!!!
Classy. So you know all this based on what? You were at practices?
TidePit77 is clearly an Alabama fan.
He could have had Tulip’s spot had he wanted it.
100% spot on. Great article. Do I wish he would’ve stayed? Yes. It was clear that Malzahn was going to stay with Nix. I’ve said this on other articles as well but the competition between Gatewood and Nix was not close. Now, Nix obviously hasn’t been the best at times but I do think that Malzahn thinks he gives us the best shot. Good luck to Joey!
What a hypocritical post. You ask what someone basis their opinion on. Follow up this the sarcastic question if they were at the practices. You than follow up with your own opinion that the competition wasn’t close. How do you know? Where you at the practices? I didn’t know that keeping a 50% passer as a starter was best for the team.
Matter of fact I’ve been to several practices and have talked with others who have been to them.. it wasn’t close. Thanks for asking though.
Watch……Joey will go to Florida and Mullen will make him an All-American. Gus is a freakin idiot!! Why run the wilcat when you have a Joey Gatewood? He should’ve at least gotten a fair shot. Pat Nix is the only reason Bo has kept the starting job.
Lol
Nix is a 50% passer. Thank you MSU for helping it be that high. LOL
54%
One in a million – so you’re telling me there is a chance!
Would be funny if led us to a title
Wish him the best, I was wondering why he didn’t get more meaningful snaps since the Tulane game. I don’t claim to be a coach by any means but, Gatewood looked like he should have been starting over Nix.
I am a huge Auburn fan. Gatewood is doing the right thing the right way. He is going to make somebody a great qb . Wait and see. Auburn has a problem. It includes the head coach, the o line coach , the qb coaoch pretending to be a O coordinator and a toothless d coordinator. That translates to four or more losses every tear. Gatewood is right to leave and I wish him the very best.
Some huge Auburn fan you are to think we have a toothless d coordinator
Teeth or not – Auburn Defense Coordinator has proven his ability to do his job by leading the best defense in the country. I recommend Auburn gives Steele a healthy raise.
I think Florida is doing a much better job strategically working the number 2 guy ( Emory Jones) in the lineup in certain situations. It keeps the defense on guard and gives a guy a chance to contribute even when it is 4 or 5 snaps a game. You don’t want it to happen, but guys get hurt all the time and the next man up gets a chance. Look at Florida, look at Alabama. Auburn needs to continue to build Nix’ confidence, but that does not mean you cannot get a guy in there in certain wildcat situations. Agree with everyone else, that Gatewood should stick around until December.
With the money that’s being paid to coaches now, is it any wonder that they would rather take an institution down with their inadequacies than leave the golden teat? This brings up how they got hired in the first place; AD’s with questionable understandings of the finer points of what’s required in coaching and an inability to see through to hidden character flaws?
For anyone who thinks the QB is the problem, you must not have been paying attention. Apart from world class ATHLETES (see Marshall, Newton) Gus has killed QBS confidence his entire tenure. A paranoid coach letting it trickle down to his Qb play. Same story with stidham, just a different year and a different last name. Nix will be the guy, Malzahn will not.
I suspect politics. I’m sure Pat Nix still has strong ties to Auburn. My guess is the QB competition was a farce.
Agreed 100%
I have a hard time believing Gus, with is job on the line, would play politics especially with a true freshman QB
Unless he felt his job was going to get Nixxed unless he started Nix. See what I did there?
Not true. Nix could literally be at any program in the country. Gatewood wasn’t the full time starter in high school.
The wheels on the bus go wound and wound, lmoa!!!
I’m just here to pile on and read the pathetic comments
I agree with the sentiment of the article. I’m not 100% sold that JG gains a lot by leaving at this point in the season. But I hear the argument of getting ahead of the transfer recruiting cycle. And he definitely did right by Auburn imo.
The blame here lies squarely at the feet of Gus. And the Justin Fields ’18 comparison is spot on. It seems that some coaches are stuck on the idea that you can’t interchange QB’s without creating the sense of no QB at all. Interestingly, Jeremy Pruitt has proven that that is just simply not always the case. This shouldn’t have and didn’t have to end this way.
Don’t blame Gatewood. Never “blame” a player…it’s his life. Do what you want. I applaud a team player who sticks it out but that doesn’t mean it’s the right decision for everyone. The question I have is: how do we know that Gatewood would have played any better? Maybe but maybe not. Gus maybe should have tried him out a bit more v. LSU (or even UF). I just think that Gus was thinking it would stymie Nix’s development and maybe he say enough in practice to know that Gatewood wasn’t the answer. Hard to say.
I agree 100%. There is this fallacy that many fanbases hold that the backup would be better. Whether you think that the coach is great or not, I think most of us can acknowledge that anyone with a HC gig has forgotten more than we’ll ever know about football. And they think the starter is better.
I have nothing but respect for the man, and wish him the same success and prosperity that Jalen Hurtz has found.
I know he’s frustrated but the decision is one likely made in haste after a disappointing Saturday. Seems pretty selfish to me. Definitely not from the same mode as Jalen Hurts. It’s the millennial attitude of instant gratification. If he were my Son id have had to tell him to finish this season, do your best, and transfer after the season. Has little to do with football, and a whole lot to do with life.
he wanted to get his name in the transfer portal now, because recruiting for 2020 is already so far along. I think it most certainly was a football decision.
Zach
To leave not only doesn’t make sense from a football stand point. It doesn’t make
sense to leave before mid terms from an academic standpoint.
College needs to be more then just football since only about 2 percent will ever play again after college. And likely way less then that for quarterbacks
Apparently he isn’t getting very good advise from the elders in his life.
I’m more concerned about him just being successful in life not on the football field.
Can’t convince me it isn’t a bad move at this point
Can’t fault the kid. Quarterback is different than every other position on the field because usually, there’s no chance to rotate.
Lots of places for him to go. Tennessee, UCF, Miami, FSU. Don’t think he goes to Oklahoma because they have an incredible true freshman, Spencer Rattler, waiting in the wings behind Hurts.
Gatewood’s from Jacksonville, but he would face a ton of competition at Florida, and he’d start out at a disadvantage because he’s still developmental from a passing standpoint. Who knows, though? He is young and Mullen likes big quarterbacks that can run.
I don’t blame Gatewood for transferring. College football is a business these days and coaches lie all the time. Media tends to flip flop on this issue as well. Not too long ago, Tennessee’s Jalen Hurd transfered mid-season only to be ridiculed by SDS staff calling him a quiter. That young man have quite a bit for UT being a work horse RB. Months later we find out the true story and what an a$$ Butch Jones was. I don’t blame any player for transferring. Might not of been a good fit or in Hurds case, you might have been lied to. In any case, great job of flip flopping SDS.
The smart move, back in the spring was to go with Gatewood and redshirt Nix with Willis as the backup. That keeps the QB roster deep, gives Nix time and room to grow as a QB and it allows Gatewood to prove himself.
Now, it’s Nix and … Cord Sandberg. We have no depth at QB and Nix is seeing ghosts (not good with Georgia and Alabama on the horizon).
This is 100% on Malzahn. He needs to go. Today was a total waste of a team. Our defense is National Championship-caliber. But our offense … it’s bad for a JV team. I’m so tired of Malzahn … always the same excuses, the same mismanagement, the same errors in judgment. Back when his agent was spreading those Arkansas rumors, Auburn would have been wise to call his bluff. “Oh? Arkansas is coming for you? Well … best of luck, coach.” Instead, we’re stick with an absurd contract and perpetual mediocrity.
Best comment here culmo80. Nix will be very good, but he needed this year to develop, whereas Gatewood put in the time and should have been the starter, in my opinion. Gus is killing us. Offense is stale and predictable, he ruined Stidham by forcing the RPO on a true pocket passer. Stidham will prosper at the Patriots, Gatewood will prove himself wherever he lands, Nix will stay the same at best unless we kick Gus out the door. He has wasted another potentially great season by not changing the offense up. As frustrating as it is for the fans, it has to be crazy frustrating for the team. We need to pull it together and finish this season strong.
Absolutely the smartest option for everyone. I’m not surprised at all considering Gus’ lack of intelligence.
Gatewood will transfer to florida, Florida state or LSU and will be a star. Gus will hate he did that kid like that!!
The kid waited patiently for a chance when the offense fluttered!!
Just saying, Newton was a JUCO transfer from blinn college, started at QB first and only year at Auburn, not a good example of not getting enough playing time
It is obvious that ole Gus has bet the house on his star recruit. If Gatewood feels that he is good enough to start, I don’t blame him at all for leaving. he is trying to get enough exposure to possibly get some attention from NFL scouts. If Malzahn didn’t sit Nix after the FL performance, then kept him in vs. LSU, he is never going to sit him.