Malik Willis is Auburn’s backup QB at Clemson … sort of

AUBURN — With Sean White’s suspension continued into this weekend’s game at No. 3 Clemson, Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn must continue to walk the tightrope of keeping Malik Willis’ redshirt intact.

The Tigers' fifth-year head coach made it abundantly clear in his words and actions last weekend during Auburn’s 41-7 win over Georgia Southern that the goal is to keep Willis, a true freshman early enrollee, off the playing field this season.

White was among three players suspended for the season opener due to a violation of team rules. Without going into any specifics about the players' infringement, Malzahn said White’s penalty will extend one more game than tailback Kamryn Pettway and wide receiver Kyle Davis.

However, No. 13 Auburn (1-0) has a long-term and short-term plan for the quarterback position if something were to happen to starter Jarrett Stidham on Saturday night against No. 3 Clemson (6 p.m., ESPN).

Willis has been restricted from media access this season due to a longstanding team policy that Auburn freshmen are unavailable until they participate in a game.

Clearly if Auburn wanted to get Willis, a former three-star prospect out of Atlanta, some game experience Saturday night, he would’ve been the second signal caller to get action in the season opener. However, walk-on Devin Adams was asked to clean up the final seven minutes of action. He gained 41 yards to nearly run out the clock.

The short-term play Saturday, meaning one or two possessions in a game inside a hostile environment at Memorial Stadium, is to use Adams before Stidham is able to return to the game.

"If it's just a play or two, obviously, we'll try to be as smart as we can in that,” Malzahn said.

The long-term plan, meaning if Stidham suffers a debilitating injury or circumstances dictate the Baylor transfer is inactive for a majority of the Top 15 matchup, is pull the redshirt status off Willis and get the freshman in as soon as possible.

“Malik's ready and like I've said before, he has impressed us numerous times and he's got a lot of practice reps,” Malzahn said Tuesday. “I think he'll be ready to go if called upon, if there's an injury."

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Willis, who reportedly had a solid preseason camp, didn’t take many practice reps with the first-team offense due to the month-long starting positional battle between Stidham and White. Malzahn made it clear a month ago that “in a perfect world,” the Auburn coaching staff would like to redshirt Willis and allow him to learn the intricacies of this new run-pass option offense from coordinator Chip Lindsey. But after Auburn has had three different starting quarterbacks in the last three seasons, the world behind center has been anything but perfect for Auburn.

“We're not really thinking that way in case you have one injury that changes everything so he will continue to be with the offense and get reps and everything with that,” Malzahn said on Aug. 14. “You can never have enough quarterback depth, as we've learned the last three years." 

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In his previous season at Arizona State, Lindsey had four different quarterbacks forced into action because of injuries.

“In my experience, I've had to deal with injuries at the quarterback spot before and so has everyone else probably at some time in their career,” Lindsey said. “I don't think, to make a (starter) decision because I think that's where we're at in college football. It's probably harder in high school, to be honest with you. Kids are younger. But those guys even know they better be ready to play, too.”

After this weekend, the debate then turns to whether a healthy White or Willis will be designated the permanent backup.

“We’ll just see where everything is out. Sean is our No. 2 quarterback right now,” Malzahn said. “We’ll just see where everything falls out with that. He’ll be back Week 3, and we expect him to be ready to go.”