Tebow:Gatewood adds element to offense

[aubiefifty 18,398]

Tim Tebow: Auburn’s use of Joey Gatewood ‘adds an element’ to offense

Today 10:00 AM

5-7 minutes

Auburn Football

AP

Tim Tebow understands what it’s like to be in Joey Gatewood’s position.

Thirteen years ago, Tebow was the second man at quarterback for a Florida offense led by Chris Leak. The Gators incorporated the freshman phenom into the offense, designing packages for Tebow while utilizing a two-quarterback system on their way to the BCS National Championship.

Tebow is one of the few who can speak from experience and attest to the feasibility of a two-quarterback system. As he has watched Auburn, both up close and from afar, this season, the former Heisman winner has taken note of how the Tigers have deployed both of their freshman quarterbacks — Gatewood and Bo Nix — in the offense.

“I think it’s good,” Tebow said. “I think it adds an element.”

Auburn’s situation isn’t quite like Florida’s in 2006. Leak was the entrenched starter for the Gators, while Tebow was the highly-touted freshman who the coaching staff wanted to find a role for in the offense, grooming him to take over the starting job the following season. At Auburn, there was an open and closely contested competition for the starting job between Nix, a true freshman early enrollee, and Gatewood, who redshirted last season while appearing in just one game.

Nix won the competition in fall camp and as starter has helped lead the Tigers to their best start since 2014, as No. 7 Auburn looks to improve to 6-0 when it travels to take on No. 10 Florida on Saturday. Nix has progressed and gotten more comfortable within the offense each week, and he is coming off his best performance to date, completing 16-of-21 passes for 335 yards and a pair of touchdowns against Mississippi State.

He has completed 72-of-125 passes for 980 yards, seven touchdowns and a pair of interceptions while rushing for another 173 yards and two scores. He is Auburn’s Leak in this comparison, while Gatewood — who was relegated to the role of backup after losing out to Nix in the preseason — is Auburn’s Tebow.

The redshirt freshman is Auburn’s backup quarterback, but Gus Malzahn has also been sure to design packages and plays specifically for Gatewood. He has appeared in all five games this season, sometimes just for a handful of snaps, and has rushed 22 times for 122 yards and three touchdowns while completing 4-of-5 passes for 37 yards and a touchdown.

“They’ve made it clear-cut, the roles,” Tebow said. “I think it helps, too, Bo being the guy but then giving Joey a package where he’s invested every week. It’s meaningful, and sometimes, if you take advantage of your package, it could be more, and it could be meaningful plays—like a touchdown. I think that helps keep him involved, helps the team, helps the defense study, prepare. So, I think it’s good in a lot of areas.”

Tebow’s role in Florida’s offense evolved throughout his freshman season as head coach Urban Meyer and then-offensive coordinator Dan Mullen, now the Gators’ head coach, found ways to get the talented freshman involved in the gameplan. He completed 22-of-33 passes for 358 yards, five touchdowns and an interception that season and added another 469 yards and eight touchdowns on 89 carries while appearing in all 14 of Florida’s games.

He said his role wasn’t always clear-cut, because the use of two quarterbacks was so new to everyone involved.

“I don’t think it was planned, necessarily, to be that,” Tebow said. “… Then, the more success we had with it, the more it opened up to where you knew it was going to be more and more roles, and then it got more and more plays, and then by Tennessee, it opened up even more and then LSU it was even bigger. You know, you don’t know if you’re going to have all those plays, but in the LSU game I got to score almost every time we were down there. But also, you could have another game where it just doesn’t fit right in the package, so you wouldn’t have the same plays.”

Malzahn hasn’t divulged much about how Gatewood’s role will progress this season, but the Tigers’ seventh-year coach has expressed confidence in the redshirt freshman and said his role “could be a little bit different” on a week-to-week basis. Either way, like Tebow did for Florida in 2006, Gatewood gives Auburn’s offense some flexibility.

Tebow believes that getting Gatewood involved with designed packages will go a long way toward the quarterback’s development, especially if he’s ever needed to step into a bigger role. As Malzahn has been sure to mention time and time again this season, Gatewood is just one snap away from being the starter, should anything happen to Nix.

“It just prepares you mentally, that I could have the most important plays, but I have to be ready at all times,” Tebow said. “I think it also prepared me when I did take over too, that the plays I was in the game were the biggest, most pressure-packed plays, and you’re coming off the bench to perform. So, when you’re out there every down, it’s like first-and-10 and you’re like, ‘Oh, this is a lot easier.’ I think it really helped me as far as that goes, as well.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

I couldn't agree more. I think having a package for Gatewood each week is a great wrinkle. Even if he doesn't play much, the other team has to prepare for what we may do with him. I think the key to this dynamic has having a clear cut #1 guy and a clear cut package guy. Otherwise you create a qb controversy, which I think would hurt the team. 

[wde1968 262]

I would say Tebow becoming a Tiger however, I am pretty sure he is a man that speaks his mind regardless of how one takes it.

[McLoofus 35,182]

Exactly what a lot of us were hoping for. And the answer to all the hysteria over the possibility of a "two QB system". 

[oracle79 3,569]

17 hours ago, JwgreDeux said:

Even if he doesn't play much, the other team has to prepare for what we may do with him.

And every minute they spend on that, is lost practice time for them against our regular offense.

[McLoofus 35,182]

13 minutes ago, oracle79 said:

And every minute they spend on that, is lost practice time for them against our regular offense.

I always think about that season opener in 2014. Arkansas had no choice but to prepare for Nick Marshall but they got JJ Dimes. Shame that JJ Dimes never suited up again for us, but that was a fun ass half of football. 

[Zeek 16,957]

5 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

I always think about that season opener in 2014. Arkansas had no choice but to prepare for Nick Marshall but they got JJ Dimes. Shame that JJ Dimes never suited up again for us, but that was a fun ass half of football. 

I maintain JJ's problem was that he could perform without pressure. When he came in knowing that he couldn't lose the game for us he usually balled out (the ultimate relief quarterback). The game was just too overwhelming for him imo.

 

Regarding JG, he's a tremendous weapon to have. I liked one of our earlier games how we used him but his use has seemed to be lessened lately. I feel confident he'll be used well moving forward. He's a red zone battering ram for sure.