White healthy and ready for 2017 preseason battle with Stidham
NEW ORLEANS — At this point, a quarterback position battle is something Sean White expects will happen every preseason.
For a second consecutive spring, Auburn’s starting quarterback will have to fight for his job with a junior college transfer when the early consensus is he’s the underdog in the battle.
Former Baylor quarterback Jarrett Stidham, who spent one season with the Bears program before receiving his release in July and transferring to McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas, was the nation’s top-rated junior college quarterback and signed a National Letter-of-Intent with Auburn on Dec. 14 after several months of recruitment by the Auburn staff.
Once again, White says he relishes the opportunity to win the job for a second time in an open competition.
“It’s college football and coaches are going to try to make the team better anyway they feel possible,” White said. “If that means bringing in another quarterback for competition to make everybody better, that’s what they decide to do, then so be it. I just have to go out there and compete for my job.”
Stidham, who was the No. 38 prospect nationally and the No. 2 dual-threat quarterback according to 247sports.com along with being selected to the Elite 11 quarterbacks camp in 2015 before arriving at Baylor, will have three full seasons of eligibility left to his college career as he transferred this fall to a junior college that doesn’t have a football program.
“Every year, you’re bringing in players at every position, and so in every offseason, guys know they’re competing,” Auburn offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee said Saturday. “I think competition brings out the best in everybody, and I don’t think it will be any different next year.”
White, a former MVP of the Elite 11 quarterback camp and MVP of the Under Armour All-America Game out of high school, was supposed to have been beaten out this past fall by junior college transfer John Franklin III. But Malzahn named White the starter for the 2016 season over Franklin and senior Jeremy Johnson.
“I’ve been in the underdog role a lot, and that’s something I’m comfortable with,” White said. “I really believe when your back is against the wall, you have no choice but to compete and do well, and I really feel like that’s when I do best.”
White is expected to start the Sugar Bowl on Monday (7:30 p.m., ESPN) when No. 14 Auburn (8-4) plays No. 7 Oklahoma (10-2) at the Superdome in New Orleans. White has been nursing a severe shoulder injury over the final month of the regular season that forced him to be inactive for the final two games and kept him from been unable to throw passes in practice for the last month. White injured the shoulder on a hit at Ole Miss on Oct. 29 and then reinjured the throwing shoulder in the first half of a 13-7 loss at Georgia two weeks later. Without White in the lineup, Auburn had no viable plan behind White while trying to start Franklin and Johnson. With Johnson and Franklin behind center, Auburn averaged just 103.8 yards per game through the air, which was 125th in the nation among 128 Football Bowl Subdivision schools.
“Throughout bowl practices (on campus) I didn’t notice any pain,” White said. “I didn’t have to hold back or anything like that. I’m just ready to go.
Stidham, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound quarterback, shared the same practice field as White for the team’s final few bowl practices after the former Baylor quarterback enrolled early at Auburn but NCAA rules dictate players not on the 2016 roster can’t travel with the team to its postseason destination.
“Jarrett can obviously throw the ball well and throw it vertically down the field, but he’s going to have to come in, earn the respect of his teammates and earn the right to have a chance to play, just like the guys who are here and will compete as well,” Lashlee said.
And it’s those veteran Auburn teammates that are reminding folks that White was projected by some to be the backup option for the 2016 season and the sophomore from Boca Raton, Florida, led the Tigers to seven wins from behind center.
“If anything, this is what he wanted,” Auburn tailback Kerryon Johnson said “This is where it gets fun.’ So I think this spring will be really interesting. I think Sean is that type of guy when you give him a challenge, he’s going to want to do that much more just because he was presented with it.”