Double or nothing: Tigers have two No. 1 QBs or none
AUBURN - Auburn has no starting quarterback headed into the final week of spring football practice … or it has two, depending on how one looks at it.
Sophomore Kodi Burns and junior-college transfer Chris Todd rotated with the first-team offense during Tuesday's practice, the first in 12 days. That modus operandi should carry into Saturday's A-Day game.
"Right now, those guys are alternating with each other," said Tony Franklin, Auburn's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. "There is no No. 1, or else there's two number ones. However you want to look at it."
The co-starter arrangement does mark a change since the Feb. 24 start of spring practice. Burns entered spring practice as the No. 1 quarterback, based largely on his performance while rotating with then-senior Brandon Cox in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.
Burns threw a touchdown pass and ran for the game-winner in overtime against Clemson. This in the Tigers' first game under Franklin's spread system.
The tie atop the depth chart comes after two main spring scrimmages. Todd, battling weakness in his throwing shoulder, did not play in the first spring scrimmage but played in the second, completing 17 of 25 passes for 168 yards and three touchdowns March 13 in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Burns struggled, going 7-for-19 for 122 yards with two touchdown passes and an interception.
Tuesday's practice marked the first since the March 13 scrimmage. The Tigers have 12 days off for spring break.
"The last few practices here, we're giving Chris and Kodi most of the reps," Franklin said. "If somebody emerges clear-cut a lot better than the other one, you may have one guy, but I don't think that's going to happen, and I've told them I don't think it is.
"I think they'll go into the summer, and they'll be competing against each other."
For Burns, the extended competition means a change in plans.
"(Franklin) said he wanted a No. 1 in spring, so that's what I was thinking was going to happen," Burns said. "He obviously hasn't made a decision yet, so I'm just going to keep competing every day."
The extended competition gives Todd a chance for his shoulder to mend.
"I guess it does benefit me some," Todd said. "… I believe we can still do something in the last part of spring and be able to get something out of it."
Franklin indicated that sophomore Neil Caudle has fallen off the pace.
"Neil will be a great backup for them," Franklin said. "He's a great team guy. He's a great Auburn guy that wants to be here. He'll do a great job as a backup, and if either one of them falters, he'll be ready to come back and step in and take their place."
True freshman DeRon Furr is a long-term project. It didn't help that he suffered a shoulder injury in Auburn's first spring scrimmage on March 1.
"He's just a long, long, long, long, long, long way off physically and mentally," Franklin said. "He's not grasped the offense right now. He's physically been hurt, but mentally he's not prepared himself good enough to compete."
As for the on-going battle between Burns and Todd, it could come down to how well Todd's shoulder mends. Todd showed weakness during Tuesday's practice.
"You could tell as the day went on, he got worse," Franklin said. "I was asking the trainers, did he throw too much at the end? He threw the post ball and didn't have anything on it at all.
"It's just going to be a work that's going to take some time. It's probably going to take another few months to get it back to where it's ready."
