re: 2014 QB

Only if you are going to make the change permanent. A qb that is struggling, doesn't get it turned around on the sideline watching the back up for a series. He either plays better or you replace him, but sitting out a couple of series is usually the worst way to deal with it.

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Only if you are going to make the change permanent. A qb that is struggling, doesn't get it turned around on the sideline watching the back up for a series. He either plays better or you replace him, but sitting out a couple of series is usually the worst way to deal with it.

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All of this.

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Worst idea ever if you're trying to compete this year.

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Its also a bad idea to not give your backup QB, who you burnt his RS 5 games in to help compete, only running Wildcat and playing against WCU and Florida Atl. I would rather give him a few drives early in an SEC game when it matters to get real practice. He would be a lot better prepared in case NM hurts his knee again, which there is a good chance of.

I find it hard to beleive any moderately astute football observer can't pretty quickly see Johnson is a much more natural thrower and QB than Marshall.

His ability to make quick reads and accurate throws is something I don't see Marshall ever being consistently good at. Hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it.

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I find it hard to beleive any moderately astute football observer can't pretty quickly see Johnson is a much more natural thrower and QB than Marshall.

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It was basically a controlled environment. He was never rushed, nor had to go through his progressions more than a handful of times. He did nothing bad, but nobody has seen him in real action yet to say he is a "much more natural thrower and QB than Marshall".

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I would rather give him a few drives early in an SEC game when it matters to get real practice.

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Like I said, if you want to compete this year it's a bad idea. If you want to look forward to next year, you can use the SEC games as practice. You pull Marshall to let Johnson have drives and his confidence is shot. Thus making us not competitive this year with a true freshman.

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I find it hard to beleive any moderately astute football observer can't pretty quickly see Johnson is a much more natural thrower and QB than Marshall.

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Just because you're a natural thrower doesn't make you a good QB. There's a lot of variables of Johnson's game we didn't see because we were playing a high school team. They couldn't expose his weaknesses but an SEC team will. We just have to wait and see what those are. So like I said, he's no guarantee.

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but nobody has seen him in real action yet to say he is a "much more natural thrower and QB than Marshall".

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I agree with the first part of your post and I'm far from claiming Johnson is the next big thing but you can certainly watch people throw and tell which has a more natural looking throwing motion.

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AU's QB situation is not broke...not sure why everyone is trying to fix it.

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If all you want to do is beat the Miss schools, Tenn, and Ark and go 8-4 this year and next, sure, it's not broken.

But in order to beat A&M, Bama, Georgia, and LSU we are going to have to be able to pass downfield 15+ yards, and outside of one drive against MSU Marshall has not shown the ability to do that with any consistency. Perhaps he will improve, perhaps not, but lets not act like Marshall has been above average throwing the ball, because he hasn't.

I am by no means advocating a change at the current time, but if Marshall continues to struggle throwing the football I wouldn't mind seeing what Johnson can do. Gus's offense is highly dependent on throwing downfield to be truly effective, and so far Marshall has shown little ability to do so, which has led to us being very hot and cold on offense.

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He has never used a 2 QB system. Didn't at Arky, Tulsa, Auburn, or Arky St.

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2011 Auburn: BT with KF
2009 Auburn: Todd with Burns
2008 Tulsa: David Johnson with Jacob Bower

Not all of those wQBs were traditional QBs per say, but Gus used them throughout the season in most games lined up in the QB position, and they all had a pass threat. Gus doesn't use the 2nd QB like the classic Leak/Tebow example, but has used it in most of his recent seasons.

I don't know how he plans to use JJ as a wQB since he is more of a pass threat than a run threat, but I expect Gus uses JJ in our remanding games just so the opposing DC has to prepare for our offense under a different QB.


ETA: As for 2014, I don't know or care really at this point. I want to see how both NM and JJ progress this season first