College Football Countdown: 5 Things That Could Derail Auburn’s Season
No One Steps Up at Quarterback
I promise this isn’t going to be a list just giving the opposite of everything we said last week, but this one is especially key to whether or not Auburn succeeds or fails in 2016.
As I’ve mentioned here before, Gus Malzahn is an offensive genius, but only when he has the right quarterback to run his style of offense. That quarterback is typically someone who can run and pass. As far as I can tell the only quarterback on Auburn’s roster who possesses those abilities is John Franklin III.
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So far Jeremey Johnson has proven that he has the arm strength to play quarterback, but he lacks accuracy and has not shown that he’s able to run the ball effectively (outside of one long run in garbage time against LSU).
Sean White has proven that he can move the ball on offense, but he’s still not much of a threat to run. As @AUTigerBloggin suggests on Twitter, it’s possible that White starts the season at quarterback and Franklin has a role in the offense.
That’s possible, but then you run the risk of tipping your hand to the defense who would then know that most likely if Franklin is in the game it’s a running play, and when White is in the game it’s to pass. I would much rather see one of them step up and take the job full-time.
However, if that doesn’t happen and we go through another season without someone capable of running Malzahn’s offense effectively, it’s going to be another down year of college football on The Plains.
Next: An Injury at Running Back