By Charles Goldberg
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. — Junior college transfer Nick Marshall and freshman Jeremy Johnson have emerged as the frontrunners for the starting quarterback job at Auburn in a shakeup at the position that saw Kiehl Frazier move to safety.
Coach Gus Malzahn made that call Monday night, opting for two quarterbacks who have never taken a snap at Auburn over two that shared the starting job last year. Marshall and Johnson will get the first shot at the starting job this week. Sophomore Jonathan Wallace could join the race for the starting job later, Malzahn said.
Mahlzan said Marshall and Johnson earned the chance to continue to vie for the starting job based on their fall practice performances.
Malzahn stopped short of naming a starter, but Marshall and Johnson moved ahead of Frazier and Wallace.
Marshall, who accounted for 37 touchdowns last season at Garden City Community College in Kansas, is considered a dual-threat quarterback. Johnson was the State of Alabama's Mr. Football last season at Carver High in Montgomery. He has a exceptionally strong arm, and passed for 31 TDs last year.
Johnson passed for 3,193 yards last season, but he didn't stop there. He also rushed for 705 yards and seven TDs. He passed for more than 8,200 yards in his career at Carver.
Marshall could become one of the more compelling stories of the football season, considering he played a full season at Georgia as a defensive back before leaving for Garden City where he became junior college quarterback stat machine.
He passed for 3,142 yards and 18 touchdowns. He rushed for 1,095 yards and 19 touchdowns.
He's from Pineview, Ga., where he threw for 103 touchdown passes, a Georgia High School Association record.
Malzahn recruited Frazier out of their home state of Arkansas in 2011 when he was the Tigers' offensive coordinator. Frazier came with plenty of promise as USA Today's Offensive Player of the Year. He threw 12 passes as a freshman, but mostly ran, finishing as Auburn's third-leading rusher with 327 yards as Malzahn's Wildcat quarterback. He started five games in the middle of the season last year, hitting 62-of-116 passes for 753 yards and eight interceptions and two TDs.
Malzahn said it was Frazier's idea to move to safety after a discussion with the coaches Sunday.
"He loves Auburn. He loves his teammates and his teammates love him," Malzahn said.
Wallace didn't play until the fourth game last year as a rookie and didn't throw a pass until Game 7. But he started the final four games, compiling a 2-2 record. He set an Auburn freshman record for passing efficiency. He hit 46-of-80 passes for 720 yards and four touchdowns. He also threw four interceptions.
He's from Central High in Phenix City.
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