Auburn football: Five really important offensive players vs. Washington

QB Jarrett Stidham

Let’s just go ahead and get this one out of the way.

He’s Auburn’s offensive star. A preseason Heisman candidate. A 3,000-yard passer.

And so much rides on his performance.

In Auburn’s four losses last season, Jarrett Stidham had his four worst games. It started with the 11-sack game in Week 2 against Clemson. He learned from that debacle and was better getting rid of the ball throughout the season. Yes, he was banged up late last season, but that doesn’t matter now.

The Auburn football team needs him to be on his game. That means hitting open receivers — he completed 66.5 percent of his passes last season — and taking care of the ball. Gus Malzahn said at SEC Media Days that Stidham was going to have more freedom in this offense. Will that really happen? We see no reason it shouldn’t.

It’s also a huge lift that Stidham has had an entire offseason to build rapport with his receivers and with OC Chip Lindsey.

Can Stidham best his 2017 performance? Without a doubt. It’s expected.

But it starts Saturday against a Washington defense that is stout and particularly so in the secondary. Stidham threw the ball just 24 times in the season opener last year against Georgia Southern. It’s likely that he’ll have to air it out more this time.