Kevin Skabrinskidinski weighs in with some nice to hear comments from Lushlee.
The most talked-about player during Auburn's fall camp - at least the one who's still in fall camp - has never started an SEC game at quarterback. He didn't start playing quarterback until his sophomore year of high school.
He didn't win the starting job at his first four-year college or in junior college last year, and he hasn't won the job at Auburn yet.
So the smart thing to do in discussing John Franklin III would be to curb your enthusiasm. Auburn offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee did just that Saturday.
Lashlee didn't just tap the brakes on the JFIII hype. He slammed on the brakes so hard, he almost triggered an air bag.
"With John, he's almost like a true freshman," Lashlee said. "Yeah, he's coming from junior college, but he didn't play either of his two years at Florida State, and he split time last year (at East Mississippi Community College) So he doesn't have a lot of snaps under his belt."
The Auburn coaches will know a lot more about their quarterback race after Tuesday's initial fall scrimmage, but was Lashlee trying to tell us something? He said something else that could be telling when he was asked "what kind of kid" Franklin is.
Lashlee said he hasn't seen the "Last Chance U" documentary on Netflix about the 2015 East Mississippi season, which includes Franklin.
"I have no idea how that portrayed him or anyone, but he's a good young man," Lashlee said. "He's a good kid. He's been a hard worker. He's been a good teammate."
Lashlee then shifted his answer back toward the hope of Auburn fans that Franklin could be a Nick Marshall kind of savior for an offense in dire need of some excitement.
"I just hope everyone is fair to him with expectations because we put so much up on hype and expectations because we need something to talk about," Lashlee said. "If you are the guy, great. If you're not (the guy) right away, that doesn't mean you failed."
Is quarterback James Franklin ready to carry Auburn after the dismissal of Jovon Robinson? Probably not based on his struggles last season at East Mississippi — struggles that were chronicled in depth by "Last Chance U." Franklin has had several months to prepare and improve since then, however, so there's still hope.
Nice to see Auburn has learned a lesson about overhyping a quarterback in advance of any actual sustained production. Don't know if Lashlee's trying to throw water on the idea that Franklin will start the opener against Clemson, but his comments may be the most reasonable observations we've heard yet about the young man.
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