It's not like Auburn will be in a super hurry to name a starting quarterback when preseason practice opens Wednesday night. However, first-year head coach Gene Chizik certainly wouldn't mind if one of his five contenders emerged quickly. The quarterback slot is far from the only lingering question, but it has been the most talked about on the Alabama Plains the past few months.
"Our quarterback situation is unique," Chizik said. "There's a unique dynamic there. There's some older guys with experience. Then all of a sudden, you have some young guys coming in on campus. We would like to get that situation resolved.
"How long that will take, we don't know."
When it comes to time, this much is certain at Auburn. Everyone associated with the program wants to erase the misery from last year's 5-7 season that can be best described as bizarre. The Tigers switched their offense to the spread, they abruptly fired their offensive coordinator six games into the season and dropped six of their last seven to finish with their first losing season since 1999.
A new era is only a few hours away from starting under Chizik and an almost entirely new coaching staff.
If Chizik is nervous about the expectations placed on him to succeed immediately, he's not showing it. Chizik has been a model citizen since he was hired to replace Tommy Tuberville in December. While not overly chatty with the media and termed as boring in group settings -- and let's not forget he may not have been the popular choice for head coach -- Chizik has embraced all challenges.
"When you get into this profession, there's pressure everywhere," said Chizik, a former defensive coordinator who once helped the Tigers forge a perfect season but won just five games the past two seasons as head coach at Iowa State.
"There's pressure from the fans. There's pressure from the media. I don't think there's any more pressure put on Auburn football than what I put on our kids and myself. We don't really pay a whole lot of attention to all of the external issues out there. We put enough pressure on ourselves to be great."
Chizik succeeds Tuberville, who resigned following 10 seasons with an 85-40 record. The 47-year-old Chizik was 5-19 in two seasons at Iowa State after successful stints running the defenses at Auburn and Texas. He coached the nation's top scoring defense on a 2004 Auburn team that went 13-0 in his third and final season with the Tigers before taking the same job at Texas.
Nice, but that's old news to Auburn fans, who have watched state rival Alabama emerge from the shadows and become a national power again under Nick Saban. But the Tigers, who also know a thing or two about titles, believe they can make some noise, too, and contend in the SEC West.
"You know, our plan is to contend for a championship in everything that we do," Chizik said. "We don't think that's out of the realm of possibility. We talk to it about our players, winning championships. That's what matters.
"Again, we're going to start the season out. That's going to be the goal, to win the SEC West. I think that in this league, again, anything can happen. So it's not like the SEC West championships are a stranger to Auburn. So we'll work hard in that direction. I think our players feel very confident that we can be a very good football team. We'll just have to let it all play out on the field."
Chizik has scheduled most of Auburn's preseason practices at night to escape the heat and keep his team fresh. Depth is also a concern for the Tigers, who open their season with four consecutive home games starting Sept. 5 against Louisiana Tech. Auburn plays 11 consecutive games before it gets a bye on Nov. 11.
Of course, all eyes will be on the offense and quarterback with the start of practice. The Tigers tried the spread attack last year under Tony Franklin with disastrous results. New coordinator Gus Malzahn takes over with his hurry-up/no-huddle system that focuses on being multi-dimensional and physical in the running game.
"Last year was a crazy year," tight end Tommy Trott said. "As an offense, we never really found our identity. Hopefully with Coach Malzahn, we can establish an identity and figure out what we want to do as an offense. This offense gives us the ability to be physical because to be successful, we're going to have to run the football.
"Last year, you saw more horizontal running, more sideline to sideline. With this offense, the quarterback can turn around and give it to the back so there's hopefully more downhill running and an opportunity to move the line forward."
And who will be directing the show? Good question.
Junior Kodi Burns and senior Chris Todd split the majority of snaps last season, though junior Neil Caudle also saw time. Todd underwent shoulder surgery in December and missed spring drills. Freshman Tyrik Rollison and Clint Moseley also joins the mix. The Tigers will open camp with 11 straight days of practice before they come up for air - and hopefully with a starting quarterback in place. "We would love to have the thing ironed out quick," Chizik said.
"It'll be really interesting to see who's retained what. I think they've all worked hard over the summer. I don't think there's any question of that."
