Auburn QB playing on short leash
AUBURN -- Brandon Cox donned a baseball cap -- the official uniform of the backup quarterback -- at the start of Saturday's game against New Mexico State.
Give him a clipboard and the ensemble would have been complete.
Perhaps only Cox knows how close he came to fulfilling the backup role on a full-time basis. When he led the Tigers to victory over the Aggies, Cox earned a temporary reprieve and a starting job in this week's game at Florida.
Even so, his hold on the No. 1 spot remains shaky.
Cox dropped an interesting tidbit Tuesday that almost went unnoticed. He told reporters that he didn't know if he would play at all against New Mexico State and spent most of the week working with the second team.
That reinforces speculation that true freshman Kodi Burns was handed the keys to the offense after Cox's two-interception performance two weeks ago in the Mississippi State game.
It also makes Auburn's conservative play-calling to start the New Mexico State game all the more perplexing.
Auburn went three-and-out in its first two possessions without throwing a pass. On the first play of the third series, Rod Smith caught a badly underthrown pass from Kodi Burns for a 58-yard touchdown. On the fourth series, Auburn went three-and-out again.
By this time, the Aggies were driving with ease against Auburn's defense and coaches needed a change on offense. Cox entered and played for most of the game, leading Auburn to what was eventually an easy 55-20 win.
So where does this leave Kodi Burns and the Auburn quarterback situation?
It's hard to say for certain, given the closeness with which Auburn has guarded quarterback secrets. But the past two weeks have shown that coaches must be willing to adjust on the fly.
Kodi Burns played far more than expected against MSU; Cox played far more than expected a week later against NMSU.
Coach Tommy Tuberville and offensive coordinator Al Borges have never seemed completely at ease with a "two-quarterback system." They have embraced it grudgingly, perhaps as a temporary method.
If Kodi Burns had played well against New Mexico State, coaches might have named him the full-time starter, with Cox relegated to the bench full-time.
Kodi Burns is in a much more advantageous situation. The New Mexico State game may have delayed his ascension, but it didn't derail it completely.
No one has said it yet, but it's clear that Kodi Burns will be the No. 1 quarterback in 2008. If a few more losses pile up, that will only increase the pressure to let Kodi Burns work through his mistakes in 2007 to prepare him for an early season trip to West Virginia in 2008.
His redshirt has been burned, and coaches aren't going to waste a year by making him sit on the bench.
By all accounts, the competition between the true freshman and sixth-year senior has been friendly. But as Cox takes the field Saturday in Gainesville, he knows that he might be only one misfired pass away from donning that baseball cap again.
[More at www.al.com]
|
