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Jarrett Stidham is the Auburn starting quarterback for 2017.
Tigers coach Gus Malzahn announced Monday that Stidham would be the starter in their Week 1 matchup against Georgia Southern.
Just told team @Jarrett_Stidham will be the starting QB. The team is excited for Jarrett and ready for the season!#WarEagle | #OurTime
— Coach Gus Malzahn (@CoachGusMalzahn) August 14, 2017
Auburn fans have been waiting for this news to be “official” since December when Stidham committed to the Tigers. The 6’3”, 214-pound sophomore was the No. 1 overall JUCO prospect at the time.
Despite all the pomp and circumstance, we really don’t know a lot about Stidham as a quarterback. During his freshman year at Baylor, he accounted for 1,265 yards and 12 touchdowns. In Auburn’s annual Spring game, he was 16-20 for 267 yards. Four of those completions went for 30 or more yards. This type of downfield threat has been inconsistent at best in Gus Malzahn’s head coaching tenure at Auburn.
If Chip Lindsey is free to run the offense like he wants and Stidham lives up to the hype, then Auburn has the pieces to be a legitimate SEC contender.