Gus Malzahn derailed the Jeremy Johnson hype-train Tuesday morning.
Advertisement
Several media sources close to the Auburn program that we reached out to were admittedly surprised by the news, but they did assure us that it would not change their Heisman vote for Jeremy Johnson that they cast in early June.
Freshman Sean White’s only passes for Auburn came in the spring… He had a 65-yard TD run Saturday against LSU, but not before the Tigers had fallen behind 24-0. “We feel like that’s what’s best for the offense right now”.
Auburn defensive end vehicle Lawson will remain sidelined indefinitely with a right hip injury. It was painfully obvious Johnson lacked confidence to continue starting so something had to be done, even if it means switching to redshirt freshman Sean White, who will sink or swim in the SEC after virtually no first-team practice reps.
Johnson, the junior quarterback from Montgomery, has five touchdowns and six interceptions in three games as the starter for 2015.
Why? Well, at 6-foot-5, 229-pounds, Johnson seemed like the prototype for a Malzahn-coached offense.
Malzahn refused to give an exact timetable for Lawson’s return, but he did say he’s “hopeful” Lawson can return at some point this season. Just as it was presumptuous to assume that Johnson would be an upgrade over Marshall, it would be wrong to assume that the backup quarterback will fix Auburn’s offense, which has gone from 10th in yards per play last season to 102nd so far in 2015. LSU routed Auburn 45-21. He’s practiced well, we have a lot of confidence in him.
“(Johnson) can flat out throw it”, Malzahn said in July.
“The quarterback had to change, but to me, quarterback isn’t as big as what’s going on in the locker room right now”, Crowe said. As a senior in high school in Boca Raton, Florida, White passed for almost 2,700 yards and 30 touchdowns.
Advertisement
” I think Byron Cowart has done a pretty good job of preparation and things like that, he’s got some significant playing time, so we’ll see what he does”, Countess said.
