Auburn’s Trotter to travel, but will he play against West Virginia?

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AUBURN — Barrett Trotter will don shoulder pads, slip into a jersey and run out of the tunnel before Auburn’s game at West Virginia on Thursday night.

But will the true freshman quarterback take his first college snap?

That’s a secret Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville is saving for Thursday.

“Barrett did very well last week, as did Neil Caudle,” he said. “I thought it was very good competition. Each of them helped each other out. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Tuberville did confirm that Trotter will travel with the team this week for the first time this season. There is no limit on the size of the traveling roster in non-conference games, so Auburn could take all four quarterbacks without a problem.

Sophomore Kodi Burns is the undisputed starter, at least for now. Caudle, also a sophomore, has been competing for a reserve role.

The only quarterback not in the running for playing time is former starter Chris Todd, who’s been benched to rest his shoulder and regroup after a couple of shaky performances.

Tuberville originally said that coaches would huddle Sunday to talk about the quarterback situation and decide whether to remove Trotter’s redshirt. The decisions from that meeting — if it occurred — are unknown.

It’s also unclear what Trotter’s role will be if he plays. A week ago, Tuberville said coaches would only burn Trotter’s redshirt if he’s able to play a major role in the offense. But on Sunday, Tuberville made clear that Trotter would be a distant second to Burns in the quarterback pecking order.

“Kodi’s our guy,” Tuberville said. “We’re going to go with him. He’s going to get a little bit better every time he plays. We’re not going to take him out, just to say, ‘OK, he’s having problems, let’s take him out.’ Whoever plays the other role is not going to know it all. You can’t expect them to. They’ll know an abbreviated version.”

Is it still worth redshirting Trotter just to run that “abbreviated version?”

“Yeah,” Tuberville replied, “and it’ll give (Trotter) a chance to work that role a little further along.”

al.com
10/20/08