Chris Todd: Auburn starting quarterback

EDIT: Final thoughts on tonight's quarterback decision that left Chris Todd as the starter and Kodi Burns as a receiver:

• I originally thought Burns would transfer if he lost out on the starting job. After hearing him talk today, it would take a complete 180 for him to leave the program.
  
• With all the talk about Todd and Burns, it's easy to forget about Neil Caudle. The news is not much better for him. Gene Chizik said the backup competition remains ongoing, but true freshman Tyrik Rollison is getting the majority of the reps.
• Auburn fans will have a hard time with this decision, but they should give Todd a shot. His arm does look stronger than it did last fall -- and certainly much better than it did against LSU.
  
• Don't be surprised if Caudle gets the call during a close game, but if given a week to prepare, Rollison starts if Todd can't play.
  
• Plenty of reaction tomorrow. Come back then. As always, thanks for reading.
  

There is a lot to get to here, including Kodi Burns' move to wide receiver and his possible (probable?) role in the Wildcat formation.

The best way to handle it is probably just to show exactly how everyone answered every question.

Enjoy.

Chris Todd:

Todd didn't care what the first question was. He didn't really address it. Here's what he said:

"I just want to start out by saying, I have the utmost respect for all the other quarterbacks... They made me better every single day. They're all great quarterbacks. "Yes, I am definitely excited about the opportunity and looking forward to it."

On if he thought he could win the job this quickly:

"I really didn't know what to expect. I knew what coach Malzahn's expectations were, I knew what he wanted to do. But I knew it would be hard. I knew it would be a really short window of opportunity to win the job. I knew I'd have to come out and compete hard."

On if he could have seen this happening after last year:

"I really didn't know. I didn't know the future because I didn't what I was going to do with my arm, I didn't know how the surgery would turn out. There was a lot of unknowns out there. I'm really happy with the way it's turned out. But I can't say that I knew what to expect."

On Burns speaking after the meeting:

"I greatly appreciated what he said. It meant a lot to me just for him to be extremely unselfish and to truly be an Auburn player. He basically said he would do what was best for the team and anything for the team and he had my back. I really appreciated that. I said something to him afterward. It took a lot to get up there and say that."

On Burns' unselfish attitude:

"I think it’s huge -- I think just for team chemistry and the team bonding together and doing a lot of things. I’ve been on teams where people weren’t like that. It was me or nobody. That splits a team up and it’s not good for a team. "For somebody to be unselfish like that, I think it’s crucial for a team to come together and be as good as they can be."

Burns:

On losing the competition:

"The coaches chose to go in another direction. I worked really hard. I tried to prove myself. Obviously, things didn't work out. But I believe God has a plan for me. They went with Chris. That's a good thing. It's a good thing for the team. I'm 100 percent behind him. Chris Todd is the quarterback and I have no problem with that. There wasn't any mess. It was a great year and a great competition. I really appreciate the coaching staff. "I'm a guy who loves competition. Sometimes things don't work out the way you want them to. I'm going to be out there helping this team any way I can. "It was a little bit disappointing at first. Not a little bit. A lot. I'm really hurt by it, but you've got to move on. I'm mature enough to handle this. I spoke to the team about it. We're not going to be a divided team. We're all going to come together. I think this is going to make us a team. I think the Auburn Nation needs to get behind Chris as well."
On his message to the team:

"I just told them that I love each and every one of them. We work together, we sweat together, we bleed together out there working out. I was the guy last year. And things change. Things change for the better most of the time. And things happen for a reason. Just like I said, Chris Todd is the quarterback and whether they wanted me or wanted another quarterback -- it doesn't matter. Chris is the guy. We have to get behind him. He's going to be a leader of this team. I'm also going to be a leader of this team as well. "It told them it's about Auburn. It's about winning championships. Coach Trooper says we come in to do one thing and it's to win championships. That's what we're here to do."
On his role in the offense:

"We talked some about that, so hopefully that will work out. Just like I said, whatever it is, if it's wide receiver, playing some quarterback here and there, playing whatever, I want to be out on the field. My whole life I've never sat on the bench and I don't think I'm about to now, so I just want to help this team out in any way I can."

On whether the team was divided after Todd was named the starter last year:

"I felt as if it was that way. It was a bunch of nonsense. Things weren't handled the right way. This year, the coaching staff came in and everything was fair. Everything was a great chance. I'm just thankful that I had a chance. It's amazing to be able to play quarterback at this level for a team like Auburn. I battled, I tried as hard as I could. But just like I said, sometimes things just don't work out, so I'm just going to go pray about it and just learn from it and I'm not going to let certain circumstances dictate my character. So I'm going to just keep coming out and working every day."
On if he ever thought about transferring:

"No. Not at all. I've been here two years. It's been a lot of ups and downs here at Auburn, and it's been a tough road. But I'm not the type of person who is going to run from it. I'm here. I love Auburn. I'm an Auburn guy. So even though things don't work out, I've got a lot to offer this team. Like I said, I'm still one of the leaders of the team and I'm going to do everything I can to help the team out."

Gene Chizik:

On the decision:

"We had to make some tough decisions today. Obviously everybody wants to know what’s happening at the quarterback position and we made some very tough decisions. After very thoroughly evaluating the quarterback situation, we talked to all our quarterbacks today and we basically told them our assessment. "We decided to go with Chris Todd as our starter today. We talked to our team about it. We talked to each quarterback about it. At the end of the day we’re going to make the decision that we feel gives us the best chance to win. So that’s what we did. "We’ve got class, class young men at that position. It was a tough day for everybody. They handled it like true pros, just with a lot of class, and we went out and practiced. That’s kind of how the day unfolded"

On moving Burns to receiver:

"Kodi’s a very talented young man and he’s an Auburn man to the bone – very unselfish. We just feel like Kodi can help this football team somewhere on our offense. As we talked through it we just kind of gave him our vision and our plan for what we thought would give him the best chance to help our football team and where that would be. "We feel like we can play him at some Wildcat – do some Wildcat things on offense – as well as put him over there at wide receiver. He went over there tonight, did a great job. Obviously he understands that position, being a quarterback. He’s very athletic and we want to give him every opportunity to help our football team win football games. He was a true champion today"

On the way Burns handled the news:

"Hey. Let me tell you something. He was unbelievable tonight. After we had the team meeting, he wanted to say some words to our team – truly, truly inspirational, very heartfelt. It was a tough day. "He showed truly who he is today – just a guy with a lot of character and what a great competitor. Again, he’s a true Auburn man. He wants to help Auburn win games. That showed today. "I couldn’t be more proud of a player today, accepting the decision the way he did"

On selecting Todd:

"In the evaluation process, we had to throw all the factors in there. He hasn’t played 15 days in the spring, has done some really good things up to date and we can’t keep repping all these guys. We’ve got to make decisions and go with them. Some of them are tough. "His shoulder feels good. He’s throwing the ball well. We had to narrow it down and we had to narrow it down sooner rather than later to get these repetitions built up. "Again, we just feel like the limited time he’s been in this offense, he’s shown the flashes that we need to see to give us what we think is the best chance to win."

On naming a backup:

"We didn’t. We’re going to keep working in that direction. Tyrik is getting a lot of reps right now. We’re in the evaluation process and we’ve got to come up with an order of who we’re going to rep. We can’t keep repping five guys. We’re really repping Tyrik right now to see how fast he can come along. Obviously he wasn’t here in spring practice. He’s shown some flashes of being a very good quarterback just like he was in high school, but we need to know more. "We’re continuing to work in that direction, but we felt it was important right now that whoever we felt like our starter would be, we had to make that decision as tough as it might be. We just had to do it."

On if it was important to make the decision now:

"I think that the further out the better, provided you have all the information you need to make an accurate decision. We felt like we gathered enough of that to do it. Obviously, the furth out the better. We've got to build up and gain reps that were lost."

On Todd:

"A resilient guy. Has been through a lot. Worked every day, studied the game, studied the offense, even in the spring when he wasn't able to participate and was in the meetings and listening and trying to learn. but the reps are what matter and you can see that he studied enough to do a nice job in this offense. Experience, he's got experience. He's played in the league, he has been through a lot, he's an older guy, he has one year left. No substitute for experience."

On Burns possibly redshirting:

"One day at a time. Again, this is a really tough day for everybody. This is the day coaches don't like making these decisions because they're tough ones when you got great kids that do everything you ask them to do and they're all fighting their rear end for a job. I don't like those kind of days but it's the nature of the beast."

And... Boom goes the dynamite

After eight days of practice, there's finally shakeout at the quarterback position.

Kodi Burns spent the first three periods of practice working with the receivers while quarterbacks Chris Todd, Neil Caudle, Tyrik Rollison and Clint Moseley worked with OC Gus Malzahn.

Burns was still in the orange non-contact jersey, but he was wearing receivers gloves as well. He also didn't participate in the early quarterback drills. Burns practiced catching passes from the JUGS machine before receivers coach Trooper Taylor taught him the receiver's stance at the line of scrimmage.

There is no word yet on an official starting quarterback, but Burns is almost certainly out of the race, leaving Caudle and Todd.

INJURY REPORT: LB Eltoro Freeman joined the other injured Tigers on Thursday, sporting a hard cast on his right hand. LBs Spencer Pybus, Adam Herring and Harris Gaston are all out as well, leaving Auburn with three scholarship linebackers. One of those, Jonathan Evans, is a true freshman.

Also sitting out practice today: OLs Bart Eddins, Andre Harris, Vance Smith, A.J. Greene and Darrell Roseman, S's D'Antoine Hood and T'Sharvan Bell.

Post-practice Wednesday notes

Chris Todd, Kodi Burns and Neil Caudle went back to work a day after Auburn’s first scrimmage with no idea how it affected the quarterback race.

Auburn coach Gene Chizik said there is still nothing to report, but did set a new goal of being closer to a decision by Saturday.

“Obviously we’re working every day to use great discernment on what we’re going to do rep-wise,” Chizik said Wednesday. “Hopefully by Saturday we’ll have something where we know who to give more reps to than the others. So that’s the goal.”

Chizik also said the Tigers plan to hold their next scrimmage on Saturday.

The three quarterbacks seem like they would all favor that decision. The trio played two series apiece. All of them said it made getting into a rhythm difficult.

With Todd, Burns and Caudle splitting reps, the first-team offense failed to reach the end zone. Burns led the offense on a drive that resulted in a field goal, but that was the only scoring.

Caudle’s two drives resulted in a three-and-out and a long drive ending in an interception.
He still thinks he’s done enough to warrant the starting spot.

“I think so. I still haven’t been as happy as I’d like to be with how I’ve been playing,” Caudle said. “I know the offense great now. There shouldn’t be any mistakes out there. There’s still a bad read here and there but I’ll get it corrected.”

Burns didn’t want to take a stance on if he has earned the spot, but did say he thinks he’s been “pretty solid” through the first week of fall camp.

The longer the competition drags on, though, the more Gus Malzahn gets to see from Chris Todd, who missed spring practice.

“Obviously, the more he can see me throw, the more he can see anybody throw is going to be better,” Todd said. “I try to improve every day with stuff I’ve been doing, and they try to do the same thing. So I think it’s a plus for everybody. The more he can see you throw, the more he can see you do.”

Though nobody has implicitly said Tyrik Rollison is out of the quarterback competition, the true freshman has not worked with the first-team offense for at least the last two days.

YOUTH MOVEMENT: Entering fall camp, receivers coach Trooper Taylor understood he would probably need to play freshmen during the season.

However, he didn’t expect to play four of them. Yet after Tuesday’s scrimmage, Taylor thinks that’s a realistic possibility.

“I’m really proud of them,” Taylor said. “They got a short window to demonstrate what they can do and they took it to heart. I think that’s what’s been a big deal: The speed of the game has not shocked these fellows.

“It will be hard to redshirt those freshmen.”

Taylor went on to say he would consider giving a redshirt to someone who has already played a season. Only two non-freshman receivers – Darvin Adams and Derek Winter – have redshirt eligibility. Taylor has spent much of the spring and fall bragging about Adams.

It’s no surprise that DeAngelo "Voodoo" Benton and Emory Blake will likely factor prominently in the offense this season. It is somewhat surprising that Anthony Gulley and Travante Stallworth are expected to play immediately.

Both of them impressed Taylor during the scrimmage. Taylor said Gulley made a 50- or 60-yard run during the scrimmage.

Taylor also likes Stallworth’s versatility.

“He made some guys miss that looked like they couldn’t tackle him in a phone booth,” Taylor said. “He’s got that kind of quickness.

"Stallworth, the way he handles things, when you say something in a meeting, he writes a note about everything. He’s meticulous about his alignment. You can line him up in so many different places. He can play quarterback, he can play wide receiver, he can run reverses, he can do so many things and that’s what he brings to the table – versatility and being able to make plays."

While the news is good for the four true freshmen, it’s not as pleasant for Quindarius Carr. Taylor hardly had rave reviews for the sophomore.

“The thing that keeps Q on the field is that he can play every position,” Taylor said.

COMEBACK TRAIL: One receiver is aiming for a fresh start in a few days while another awaits word on his situation.

Taylor said Philip Pierre-Louis would return to the team when school starts on Monday. He also said Pierre-Louis would have an opportunity to put himself in the mix for playing time once he returns.

Meanwhile, Montez Billings has returned to practice, but coaches don’t know how much – if any – he will miss.

“Right now we’re still kind of working through some of those issues,” Chizik said. “He’s practicing as if he is going to be able to play. Right now we’re going to be looking through those issues and we’ll know more soon.”

SLADE IMPRESSES: With Mike McNeil still out, Drew Cole and Mike Slade are competing for the starting free safety spot.

Tuesday, Slade continued his charge in the competition.

“We keep saying Slade is one of the most improved players we’ve had since the springtime,” safeties coach Tommy Thigpen said. “He did a real good job.”

Thigpen also said Cole was solid and that the competition changes on a day-to-day basis.

However, neither of the two were the safety that stood out most to Thigpen on Tuesday. That distinction goes to Daren Bates.

Thigpen said the true freshman led the team in tackles, had the most big plays, caused a fumble and had an interception.

“If he does what he did yesterday, you can’t keep a guy like that off the field,” Thigpen said. “He made a bunch of plays yesterday for a guy that didn’t know anything about what he was doing. He was out there flying around and he was just hitting and moving balls.”

The other surprise on the defensive side is a potential starter at defensive tackle.

Jake Ricks, who is a projected starter at one spot, said JUCO transfer Nick Fairley has taken the first-team reps.

Fairley has benefited in the competition from another contender, Mike Blanc, working through injuries.

Early notes from Wednesday's two-a-days

• Receivers coach Trooper Taylor talked again. There are plenty of gems coming your way later today. Among Taylor's comments: Don't be surprised to see all four true freshmen -- DeAngelo "Voodoo" Benton, Emory Blake, Anthony Gulley and Travante Stallworth -- earn playing time immediately.
  
• Taylor also said he might play all the freshmen and redshirt someone who has already played. Derek Winter and Darvin Adams are the only two receivers who haven't taken a redshirt and Taylor has praised Adams all fall and spring. Wonder who Taylor could be talking about...
  
• Blake told reporters today that Kodi Burns spent a took a significant portion of the Wildcat formation snaps. Not exactly sure what that means. Remember, offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn has said he wants to have a regular quarterback and a Wildcat quarterback. That could mean one of two things: Malzahn thinks Burns can handle both the Wildcat package and the regular offense OR Burns might not be atop the quarterback depth chart.
• If there's any movement in the quarterback race, it wasn't apparent. Burns split reps with Chris Todd and Neil Caudle with the first team. Tyrik Rollison spent the second consecutive day largely with the second-team offense, but no one has yet ruled him out.
  
• Caudle's two drives yesterday resulted in a three-and-out and a long drive that ended in a Caudle interception. That comes straight from Caudle.
  
• Safeties coach Tommy Thigpen raved about safeties Zac Etheridge, Mike Slade and Daren Bates a day after the first scrimmage. It sounds like, for the time being, Slade might have jumped over Drew Cole for the starting free safety spot. The real winner, though, is Bates. Thigpen said he forced a fumble and had an interception. If Bates can string together a few consecutive strong practices, don't be surprised if he puts himself in a position to see the field as a true freshman.
• RB Onterio McCalebb provided one of today's best quotes when asked about his approach and scoring touchdowns. "When I get my hands on the ball, the first thing on my mind is scoring touchdowns," McCalebb said. "When I score touchdowns, I think about money. If you ask the players, 'What does McCalebb say when he gets the ball on the 1-yard line?' Most of the players will tell you, 'That's money.' Because you have to get in the end zone. "
  

Notes from Tuesday's scrimmage

Here's an excerpt from my story running in Wednesday's Anniston Star:

With Auburn's first scrimmage in the books, the new starting quarterback is… yet to be announced. Still.

All five quarterbacks took turns during Tuesday’s scrimmage at Jordan-Hare Stadium, which lasted approximately 80 plays and was closed to both the media and public. The two true freshmen apparently saw the bulk of the snaps.

Kodi Burns and Chris Todd each said they played two series. Neil Caudle seemingly played approximately the same number of series. Those three cycled in with the first-team offense.

Auburn coach Gene Chizik didn’t indicate what impact the scrimmage had on the competition. Then again, his close-to-the-vest mentality lends itself to keeping that information private for as long as possible.

Chizik did seem to think he and offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn could be nearing a decision.

“Well, I think it’s getting to the point where here in a few days we’re going to have to really look at doing that,” Chizik said. “Gus and I will stay on the same page and discuss the time frame that we want to do that, but obviously the sooner the better. Tonight will be a lot of great information in that direction.”

For more, read Wednesday's Anniston Star.

TUESDAY’S WINNERS:
Emory Blake – Apparently had a good day, including catching the game-winning touchdown.

Onterio McCalebb – Scored a touchdown and broke a couple of big runs by some accounts.

Mario Fannin – S Zac Etheridge said Fannin had a couple big runs while splitting time between tailback and H-back.

The first-team defense – Didn’t allow a touchdown to the first-team offense.

Quarterback purgatory – No starter named. No announcement on the field getting trimmed. No definitive end in sight. Burns, Todd and Caudle apparently played two series apiece, though we’re not sure on Caudle, who wasn’t made available to the media because of a media relations miscue. None of the quarterbacks led TD drives.

Tyrik Rollison and Clint Moseley – At least in reps and touchdown passes.

The second-team offense – Did all the scoring and led the offense to a win, at least on the scoreboard.

TUESDAY’S LOSERS:
The media and fans – The media because we have to continue to write about quarterbacks. The fans because they have to continue to read about the quarterbacks.

TURNOVER WOES: A day after turning the ball over several times during team drills, Auburn’s offense struggled to clean up its act during Tuesday’s scrimmage.

The Tigers turned the ball over three times – once on a fumble and twice on second-team defense interceptions, by Harry Adams and either Demond Washington or Daren Bates.

Chizik said there were some bright spots for the offense, but the turnovers continue to be a problem.

“We were still a little bit sloppy in that regard, in my opinion,” he said. “If you put the ball on the ground one time then you’re sloppy. That happened today.”

Receivers coach Trooper Taylor was hoping for a better effort after Monday’s struggles.

“We’ve got to take care of the football. That’s our No. 1 goal on offense is to protect the football,” he said Monday. “We had 26 turnovers last year. It puts everybody in a bad position. It puts the defense on a short field and it takes away the number of plays we run.

“We want to lead the country in the number of offensive plays we run. If you turn the ball over, obviously that limits it.”

TOUGH TASK: With Tuesday’s scrimmage closed to the media and no official statistics – or unofficial stats for that matter – a deciphering what happened became a difficult hurdle.

For instance, several players said Washington had the second interception. Another player credited the takeaway to Bates. Walt McFadden said Washington had a fumble recovery.

McCalebb’s touchdown was also in question. One account listed it as a 40-yard run. Another said it was 30 yards. A defensive player said the freshman scored from 5 yards out.

McFadden offered what seems to be the closest to reality -- mostly because he doesn't attempt to guess how long the run was.

“He had two big, long runs. He scored. I believe it was off a sweep,” McFadden said. “We lost contain on the edge.”

Truth is, it was nearly impossible to figure out what happened in the scrimmage. Getting information about any quarterbacks jumping to the top of the chart – or anything, really – was like trying to get a colonel to divulge covert operation missions.

Todd found it all especially amusing. When I asked him about DeAngelo Benton, he offered this gem: “Y’all didn’t see one play of this thing, did you?”

Don’t know what that means, but it doesn’t sound like anything good for Voodoo.

DEPTH QUEST: The most pressing issue facing offensive line coach Jeff Grimes when camp opened focused around finding depth beyond the starters.

A week into practice, Grimes is no closer to finding someone ready to emerge from the pack.

“There’s not anybody at this point that I’m ready to single out and say that they are really this close to being ready to play,” Grimes said.

The starting five was well established even before spring practice ended. Lee Ziemba and Andrew McCain will start at the tackles, Byron Isom and Mike Berry at the guards and Ryan Pugh is the starting center.

Beyond that, though, Grimes remains at a loss to figure out who the next man up will be.
He has been impressed with freshmen John Sullen and Andre Harris, but said it’s too soon to determine whether or not they’re ready to play.

“Whether or not they’re able to help us this year depends on a number of factors: on the other people, injuries, how some other guys come along in backup roles and how quickly they can learn the system as well.

“For a freshman to play, you’ve got to be intelligent, particularly on the offensive line. You’ve got to be able to know what to do, be able to think quickly, particularly in the offense we run. You don’t have a lot of time to discuss things so you’ve got to know the system. But the guy’s also got to be physically ready to play: got to be big enough, strong enough to get in there and mix it up with guys that are three-four years older than him and then the guy’s got to be emotionally stable enough to handle the pressure.”

ESPN's Football Preview

If ESPN's experts are correct, Auburn is headed back to a bowl game. Mark Schlabach picked the Tigers for the Liberty Bowl, Bruce Feldman for the Independence Bowl. Chris Low pegged Auburn for Shreveport as well, adding a best-case scenario as the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

That might not be what Auburn fans want to hear, but there's little doubt that either bowl is better than an empty bowl season like last year.

Low listed Auburn as 10th among SEC teams, behind Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Tennessee, but ahead of Kentucky and Mississippi State.

Of Auburn's opponents, ESPN predicts eight will get bowl invites. That list includes opener opponent Louisiana Tech.

The Tigers failed to make ESPN's preseason power poll, nor did they receive any votes. That seems fair considering they lost seven games last year and still have an unresolved quarterback situation.

Schlabach, in his "What's hot (and not) in college football" column counted Auburn as a program potentially in free fall.

That said, Shreveport sounds kind of nice right around Christmas, doesn't it?

Coleman named to Hendricks list

It should come as no surprise that DE Antonio Coleman was named to the Hendricks Award watch list. That announcement came last week.

Coleman is one of 30 players on the list that recognizes the nation's top defensive end.