re: Why is Rollison transferring to Sam Houston St?

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I don't think it is unrealistic to expect him to be better than Todd.

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agreed. However, if Newton and Todd played at different JUCO's where 1 team was alot better than the other it makes sense that the qb's numbers would suffer.

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Now you are stretching lol...

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probably

Somewhat true and Newton did play for a much better team than the one Todd played for. It is also worth noting that Newton will go through spring practices where Todd never went through a spring at Auburn and Newton is a much better fit style wise for our offense. The bottom line to me is as long as we can replace Ben Tate's production at RB we should be a much better team offensively with Newton compared to Todd.

Good post . It should also be noted that Cam's first year will be behind a very seasoned O-line. I think that should help him quite a bit. There is no doubt that Cam is a MUCH better athlete than Todd and has very very good speed. He'll be a force on the run, I'd say better than Tebow. His passing while at UF was not up to par from what we've heard but it seems to have gotten much better during his time at Blinn. His deep ball, as stated earlier, is pretty. If his short and intermediate passes were bad before, they have certainly improved from the film I have seen. In fact, one thing that got me excited was his ability to throw the WR screen passes on a rope which is something we struggled a bit with (Kodi more than Todd). I'm not saying he'll be an All-SEC QB but I am saying he has the potential to be.

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Everyone's all excited with what Gustav cooks up with a dual-threat QB, but I do still worry about accuracy with "dual-threat" guys. Just think about how much of our offensive came from short throws to H-backs and short WR routes.

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Yeah and after watching Cam's film, it really looks like he is spot on when it comes to screens and intermediate routes.

I stole this from StatTiger who is a regular on ITAT and the Auburn Eagle. It's a pretty long read but he always does a good job of breaking down numbers and such.



With Tyrik Rollison transferring out of Auburn, the quarterback race for 2010 should be an easier task at evaluating 4 quarterbacks rather than 5. As much as I hate to see Rollison gone, you cannot lose something you never had. Though Rollison was certainly a player with plenty of potential on the field, he never played a single down at Auburn. With one less quarterback to evaluate in the spring, the remaining quarterbacks will have more opportunities to prove themselves to the coaches and the coaches will have more time to designate to the competing quarterbacks.

No matter who wins the starting position in 2010, the “starter” will be in good hands when it comes to offensive coordinator (Gus Malzahn) surrounded by a terrific group of skill players. The 2010 season will be Malzahn’s fifth season as an offensive coordinator at the FBS level and in the previous four seasons, he has improved every pass-offense he has directed.

· In 2006, Gus Malzahn was hired at Arkansas as the Razorbacks offensive coordinator. The 2005 Razorback offense compiled a pass rating of 107.8. Malzahn was able to improve the Arkansas pass rating to 122.4 in 2006. This was an improvement of 11.9 percent. This was accomplished despite Arkansas playing three different starters at quarterback. It should also be noted the Arkansas offense was never completely in the hands of Gus Malzahn under Houston Nutt.

· In 2007, Gus Malzahn accepted the offensive coordinator position at Tulsa. He inherited a senior quarterback, who was a 2-year starter before Malzahn arrived at Tulsa. Paul Smith had a pass rating of 141.0 during the 2006 season but he improved to 159.8 under Gus Malzahn in 2007. This was an improvement of 11.8 percent.

· In 2008, Tulsa had to replace Paul Smith with senior quarterback, David Johnson. Prior to starting in 2008, Johnson had attempted a grand total of 63 passes. Johnson started the entire 2008 season under the direction of Gus Malzahn, compiling a rating of 178.7, finishing the season as the No. 2 rated quarterback in the country. Paul Smith finished the season before as the No. 4 rated passer in the nation but Johnson was able to improve his pass rating by 10.6 percent over Smith, despite being a first-year starter.

· Gus Malzahn was hired away from Tulsa to take the offensive coordinator position at Auburn in 2009. Malzahn made the decision to start Chris Todd after a competitive race to decide the starting quarterback. During the first 4 games of the 2008 season, Todd compiled a rating of 114.3 before succumbing to a shoulder injury. Under Gus Malzahn, Todd finished the 2009 season with a rating of 145.7, the 3rd most productive season in school history. He was also ranked as the No. 18 quarterback in the nation. This was an improvement of 21.5 percent for Chris Todd.

Coach Malzahn hopes to name a starting quarterback by the end of spring practice and the odds on favorite appears to be Cameron Newton. The junior college transfer from Blinn College was a highly touted quarterback coming out of high school and was rated as the No. 1 rated quarterback coming out of junior college. Only time will tell how successful Newton will be but there is no doubt he is one of the most exciting quarterback prospects to ever sign with the Tigers. His 2009 numbers at Blinn were eerily similar to Chris Todd’s numbers. Todd completed 60.4 percent of his 328 attempts for over 2600-yards and 22 TD passes. Newton completed 60.7 percent of his 336 pass attempts for over 2800-yards and 22 TD passes.

Comparing their numbers is apples to oranges because of the level of competition each quarterback faced. It’s impossible to project what Newton or any other quarterback will do in 2010 but the Auburn starter will be in very good hands under Coach Malzahn. Malzahn was able to polish up the careers of Chris Todd, David Johnson and Paul Smith and will likely do the same for Auburn’s next starting quarterback. Auburn’s offensive line should be even better in 2010 and 5 of their top 6 impact players return on offense, making the transition with a new quarterback a smoother process.