Can Gus develop quarterbacks?
With Joey Gatewood joining the fold, let's roll through Malzahn's past history with the guys he's had under center at Auburn.
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Trending in the Kingdom: Malzahn’s Plains pipeline 🤝
There’s not many teams out there that have benefited more from the one-time transfer rule in college football than UCF, and Malzahn has used it to lure some familiar faces to Orlando.
Here’s the scoop: Former Auburn and Kentucky quarterback Joey Gatewood enrolled at UCF on Sunday, reuniting with Malzahn, who recruited him to Auburn in 2018, when he was ranked the No. 1 athlete in the country coming out of Bartram Trail High School in Jacksonville.
Another ☝️: Gatewood is now the fifth former Auburn Tiger to transfer to Malzahn’s new program:
RB Marc-Antony Richards (Feb 23)
WR Nate Craig-Myers (Mar 1)
DE Big Kat Bryant (Mar 2)
DB Marco Domio (May 22)
It’s clear Malzahn is taking advantage of the transfer portal since arriving in Orlando, and it’s a key factor he hopes will add depth and skill to the roster. It’s not clear if Gatewood is immediately eligible, but the others are.
Malzahn admitted in March that the transfer portal has changed recruiting in the sport. It has also led the NCAA to examine expanding the 25-man signing class, to account for all the movement in the sport.
"It's changed the landscape of college football recruiting," Malzahn said. “I think you'll see more and more of that. You've got to be strategic. Plan ahead. Roster management is more of a challenge now than ever before."
Is the third time the charm for Gatewood? He may have finally found a home (closer to home) at UCF after transferring twice before. The 6-foot-5 quarterback left Auburn in 2019 after losing the quarterback competition to true freshman Bo Nix and switched schools again after being beaten out for a job this offseason, with Penn State transfer Will Levis earning the nod as Kentucky’s starter.
Gatewood has only played in 14 games, so there’s not a huge sample size in terms of what he can do at the college level. We know he’s been used primarily as a run-first quarterback (he has 238 career rushing yards and 163 career passing yards), especially under Malzahn at Auburn. His numbers aren’t all that impressive, with just eight pass attempts as a Tiger and 35 as a Wildcat, but the size and skillset seems there.
What Gatewood brings to UCF: Obviously, he won’t compete for Dillon Gabriel’s job, but he’ll add some much-needed seniority to a bench that lost Darriel Mack Jr. and McKenzie Milton to the transfer portal. Gatewood, if he’s eligible, could end up being a wildcat-type option in Malzahn’s offense at UCF, which he’s been known to use in the past.
(UPDATE: Malzahn said on Tuesday that Gatewood is not currently eligible, but they’re exploring a waiver.)
“Joey is an excellent human being and is a very talented young man that, obviously, I’ve coached before,” Malzahn said during his Tuesday presser. “He’s not eligible now and we’ll look at waivers and all and see what it looks like. He’s a guy that is extremely talented and he will provide value to our team.”
Gatewood gives Malzahn a back up that he’s familiar with and (somewhat) confident in, especially in the case of an injury to Gabriel. True freshman Mikey Keene looks like he’s emerging as the No. 2 quarterback, so that’s progress, but still, there’s not a lot of game experience back there behind Gabriel, outside of UMass transfer Andrew Brito, with all the other quarterbacks combining for 49 career pass attempts.
Deeper Dive 🤿:
Former Kentucky, Auburn quarterback Joey Gatewood transfers to UCF (Orlando Sentinel)
Former Auburn QB Joey Gatewood transfers to UCF (Yahoo! Sports)
QB Joey Gatewood picks UCF as transfer destination (247Sports)
Fact or Fiction: Gus can’t develop quarterbacks❓
Gatewood’s transfer to UCF got me thinking about Malzahn’s history with quarterbacks, and it’s a tricky one. Right now, former five-star quarterback Bo Nix is the last high school quarterback signed by Gus Malzahn that is still playing for Auburn, so we do have some historical data to scan through here.
Fill me in: Malzahn used six starting quarterbacks during his eight seasons at Auburn, with Nix as the guy in 2019 and 2020. The regression last season for Nix, coupled with a flurry of transfers, earned Malzahn the rap sheet of not being able to fully develop the most important position in the sport, which is somewhat warranted.
Here’s a “by the numbers” look at his QB room at Auburn, with an assist from The Montgomery Advisor and Oanow.com:
13 - the amount of quarterbacks signed by Auburn, including as transfers, since Malzahn returned as head coach in 2013: Nick Marshall (2013), Jeremy Johnson (2013), Sean White (2014); Jason Smith (2015), Tyler Queen (2015), Woody Barrett (2016), John Franklin III (2016), Jarrett Stidham (2017), Malik Willis (2017), Joey Gatewood (2018), Cord Sandberg (2018), Nix (2019) and Chayil Garnett (2020).
8 - of those quarterbacks changed positions or transferred, including Garnett, who just left for Tennessee State.
5 - quarterbacks under Malzahn have started games in at least two different seasons since 2013.
4 - different offensive coordinators under Malzahn during his eight seasons at Auburn: Chad Morris (2019-20), Kenny Dillingham (2018-19), Chip Lindsey (2017-18), Rhett Lashlee (2013-2017)
The case for Malzahn 📈
Paul Smith (2007 - Tulsa)
Chris Todd (2009 -Auburn)
Cam Newton (2010 - Auburn)
Ryan Aplin (2012 - Arkansas State)
Nick Marshall (2013 - Auburn)
Obviously, we all know the success Newton had in Malzahn’s offense during his Heisman Trophy season, but that seems to be the big outlier here. Smith was the other huge success story, upping his production from 2,727 yards and 15 touchdowns in 13 games before Malzahn arrived in 2006 to 5,065 yards and 47 touchdowns after he became the offensive coordinator at Tulsa in 2007. Arkansas State’s Aplin improved his completion percentage (63.9% to 68%), yards per attempt (7.5 to 8.2) and touchdown total (19 to 24) under Malzahn’s direction in 2011 as well.
Marshall led Auburn to a National Championship appearance in 2014 and certainly improved during his two years in Malzahn’s system, upping his completion percentage (59.4% to 60.8%) and touchdowns (14 to 20), so there was growth there as well.
The case against Malzahn 📉
Jeremy Johnson (2015 - Auburn)
John Franklin (2016 - Auburn)
Jarrett Stidham (2017 - Auburn)
Woody Barrett (2017 - Auburn)
Joey Gatewood (2018 - Auburn)
I’ll leave Nix out of the mix since his story is incomplete, but the biggest name you’ll recognize here is Stidham, who had one of the best passing seasons in Auburn history in 2017 when he transferred from Baylor, but regressed the following season without his star running back and help on the offensive line (and, of course, lost to UCF in the Peach Bowl). Johnson couldn’t handle the starting role and got swallowed by quality SEC defenses, Franklin started just one game before transferring out, Barrett never took a snap at Auburn and Gatewood, as you know, is at his third school in as many years.
There were a few other flops, like Sean White and Tyler Queen, but either way it wasn’t pretty in the quarterback room after Malzahn’s first two seasons. There were cries that his quarterback mismanagement cost the Tigers a chance at relevancy and one NFL QB coach saying Malzahn’s offense will “never help you play in the NFL.”
The verdict ⚖️: I don’t think it’s fair to put all the blame on Malzahn for the lack of development at that position, especially with so much play-calling turnover and the itch for QBs to transfer the minute things don’t work out right away. He’s clearly had some success stories, and Nix could turn out to be another, because I tend to discount the 2020 COVID-stained season, which featured a ton of distractions.
I’ll say it’s hard to come to a conclusion on Malzahn’s developmental skills, but he’ll certainly have it easy with Gabriel under his watch in 2021. What he does after Gabriel departs will certainly determine his quarterback legacy.