Gus Malzahn: Jeremy Johnson will continue to have more of a role in Auburn offense
By Jack Crosby
The Auburn Tigers opened up their college football season last week in successful fashion, defeating the Arkansas Razorbacks. They were able to do this despite the fact that starting quarterback Nick Marshall did not start the game, as he was serving a minor suspension after being cited for marijuana possession back in July.
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In his place was sophomore Jeremy Johnson, who nearly beat out Marshall last season for the starting spot. On the afternoon, Johnson was once again stellar when given the chance, throwing for 243 yards on 12-of-16 passing with two touchdowns and no picks, before turning things over to Marshall.
While Marshall did lead Auburn on that amazing turnaround in 2013, there’s no questioning that Johnson has too much talent to keep him off the field, and head coach Gus Malzahn agrees.
Malzahn has explained that Johnson will continue to have some sort of role in the offense going forward, despite Marshall starting the games.
“Nick’s still our quarterback,” head coach Gus Malzahn said. “I will tell you this, just like I’ve said before, Jeremy will have a role. We talked in the offseason about giving him more – different situations, different packages – and that’s the way we’re going about it. But Nick Marshall’s our quarterback.”
Letting Johnson see more time on the field, even if it is just in specialized packages, gives this dynamic offense even more firepower than it had before.