Gus Malzahn on the importance of making his QBs live for Auburn’s first spring scrimmage
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The Tigers have one of the more interesting quarterback battles in the Southeastern Conference this spring with four largely inexperienced players competing for the right to win the starting job.
The four contenders for the job this spring are junior Malik Willis, redshirt freshmen Cord Sandberg and Joey Gatewood and true freshman Bo Nix. With each player possessing unique strengths and weaknesses that they potentially bring to the offense, Gus Malzahn made the decision to make them live during the team’s first scrimmage of the spring.
Aside from the obvious, allowing each player to show what they can do running the ball and potentially breaking tackles, Malzahn was asked what he hoped to learn by making his signal callers live this spring. Quarterbacks are typically given non-contact jerseys in training camps and practices.
“It was good to see them, how they operate the offense, how confident they were, the communication. Like I said, anytime you go live it changes the whole perspective and the approach,” Malzahn said during his latest media availability. “I learned a lot about the approach of the quarterback. How they are going to approach the games being live and everything.
“There wasn’t one thing that stood out but just overall, it gave us not good information but great information.”
How did his quarterbacks handle getting hit? While a player like Gatewood may be a natural runner, Malzahn was keenly observing how his QBs handled pressure in the pocket, which is of utmost importance playing in the SEC.
“I think they handled it really well,” Malzahn continued. “You know, you got to compete, you got people fighting for the job and you’ve got an opportunity to kind of show what you can do because a lot of times your quick whistle and stuff, you got an orange (non-contact) jersey on and they get within two yards a lot of times they blow the whistle so it gives them a chance to show what they can do.
“For me, the decision-making — you drop back, you get a little pressure are you going to take off running? Are you going to throw it? All those things that you don’t get a chance to see in an orange jersey.”
Considering Auburn has several options to choose from in this race, it’s no surprise to see the team use every resource possible to make the best decision heading into a season opener against a quality opponent in Oregon on a neutral field. If Malzahn doesn’t make the right choice coming out of the gate, his team may suffer the consequences immediately once the 2019 season opens and start the season off with a loss playing away from The Plains.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
