Auburn’s Burns needs consistency to flourish

By Robert Rousseau  |   Sunday, March 15, 2009  |  Comments( 2 )

Auburn Tigers
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Kodi Burns still has to compete for the starting quarterback position at Auburn, which is something he’s gotten used to.

As a freshman, he found himself in an interesting situation when then-starter Brandon Cox’s poor play netted Burns some time on the field. In fact, there were some calls for him to take over on a more full-time basis back then. But his chances in that regard eventually subsided.

Last season, he lost a race for the starting job early to Chris Todd, only to regain the position later in the season when the offense sputtered.

In 2009, Burns will once again go at it with teammates for the right to lead the Tigers' offense.

Todd, Barrett Trotter, Neil Caudle, Tyrik Rollison and Clint Moseley are some of the names at QB that will be thrown around in the spring and leading into the season.

Talk about never knowing if you’re coming or going. Is it any wonder that Burns sometimes seems unsure of himself in the backfield? He needs some time to get used to a system and feel comfortable with it; part of that usually means that you’re not looking over your shoulder. Instead, he’s found himself in quarterback battle after quarterback battle.

Of course, that leads into the other inconsistencies that have plagued Burns to date -- namely, the changes in offense and coordinators that he’s run into. During his first season with Auburn, the Tigers ran Al Borges’ West Coast offense. Last season, they switched to Tony Franklin’s spread. Franklin got dropped midseason and Burns then had to get used to a new interim coordinator and somewhat of a changed offense. He now has to adjust to a Gene Chizik-led coaching staff that includes new O-coordinator Gus Malzahn.

For a guy who needs to work on his understanding of the passing game, it’s been pretty hard to do that with so much going on.

Burns is a player who hasn’t had the chance to work on some of his passing shortcomings, as confidence is hard to come by without consistency. It’s only when the situation stays stable for a period of time that Auburn fans and players will truly begin to know what they have with Burns.

He needs everything to stay the same and not have to look over his shoulder. If he gets the chance to start early on, a consistent situation that he can count on will have to follow in order for him to flourish at Auburn.
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About Robert Rousseau

Robert Rousseau is a sports writer that has been published in a variety of print and online venues. He’s been writing for RealFootball365.com for almost three years now. When Rousseau isn’t writing about college football he tends to be penning mixed martial arts pieces for MMAFighting.com or ...
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