Ahead of the 2015 season, the Auburn Tigers were favored to win the SEC and play in the College Football Playoff, but that didn’t happen after finishing the year 7-6. However, former Tiger quarterback Cam Newton doesn’t seem to believe that all the blame should be put on head coach Gus Malzahn.
Right now, Malzahn doesn’t seem to be on the hot seat after athletic director Jay Jacobs said he would be around for a “long, long time” at the SEC spring meetings last week. Newton gave Malzahn an even bigger vote of confidence saying that he doesn’t think he should be on the hot seat going into the 2016 season.
“I don’t think he’s on the hot seat just off the mere fact that he is my coach,” Newton said in an exclusive interview with SEC Country. “I know what he is capable of doing. He will always and forever be one of the best college football offensive minds that have ever coached. Just being a trailblazer of a specific scheme that he built himself organically. When it’s ran the right way, it’s very fun to watch.”
Malzahn was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Auburn in 2010, Newton’s only year with the school. They went undefeated and won the BCS National Championship while Newton won the Heisman Trophy.
There are three quarterbacks on campus in Jeremy Johnson, Sean White, and JUCO transfer John Franklin III as well as four-star signee Woody Barrett who has yet to arrive. Any one of the four could win the starting job this year and all of them seem to be great fits for Gus Malzahn’s system.
In three years with the Tigers, Malzahn has led the Tigers to a 27-13 record, an SEC championship and an appearance in the their second national championship game in four years. However, if they can’t at least compete in the SEC this year, it may be hard for them not to want to look elsewhere.
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports
