Too much change at Auburn to name a QB

By Robert Rousseau  |   Wednesday, April 22, 2009  |  Comments( 1 )

Auburn Tigers
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Anyone who watched the Auburn Tigers play football during the 2008-09 season knows that the back-and-forth nature of the quarterback position was a major contributor to their dismal 5-7 season. Said another way, offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn and the rest of the Auburn staff are well aware that waiting until the day before the new season starts is the wrong time to name a quarterback, which is exactly what happened last year. After all, the inconsistency and movement between Kodi Burns and Chris Todd at the position started early on and never stopped.

Still, as much as Malzahn and head coach Gene Chizik wanted to name a starter during spring practice, the newness of the system being put in place made that impossible.

"I think that at the end of the day that would have been the perfect world to have somebody be the definitive guy, but in so many instances when you're in these situations, it takes more than 15 practices really to find out who the guy is, especially when you're inserting everything new," Chizik said. "So they'll have awhile to digest the offense."

In other words, the quarterbacks have gotten too little time with too much to digest. So, going into the fall, Burns and Neil Caudle appear to be the front-runners. However, Todd could conceivably give them a run for their money if he's healthy by then, and freshmen Clint Moseley and Tyrik Rollison could also play into things.

That's a lot of names.

Regardless, the most important thing that the Tigers must do as soon as practice opens up is find that guy they want to hang their hat on. Whether it's Burns, Caudle, Todd or a newer prospect, the team does not want to go late into this process again. Sharing time didn't work last year for Todd and Burns and probably wouldn't this season, either. After all, for every situation you can name where it did work to perfection, there are multiple other instances where it did not. And once the decision is made, it should be as close to final as a decision in football can get. The Tigers' new quarterback will need to believe that everyone is behind him if he's going to lead.

For now, they wait.
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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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