HOOVER, Ala. -- Cam Newton quarterbacked Auburn to the 2010 national championship, and Nick Marshall quarterbacked the Tigers to the title game in 2013.
Whether Jeremy Johnson has the same potential this season could be revealed in the opener against Louisville in Atlanta and certainly by the third game against LSU in Baton Rouge.
"The LSU game is going to define me as a player," Johnson said Monday as the annual Southeastern Conference Media Days event opened. "I just need that one away game to know what to expect. I'm going to be ready for that game, and it's in the afternoon, which is great."
Johnson, a 6-foot-5, 235-pound junior from Montgomery, has been great for the Tigers up to this point, albeit on a limited basis. He has appeared in 13 of Auburn's 27 games the past two seasons, completing 57 of 78 passes (73.1 percent) for 858 yards with nine touchdowns and two interceptions.
With Marshall suspended for the first half of last season's opener against Arkansas due to a citation for marijuana possession, Johnson stepped in BS threw for 243 yards and two touchdowns in 30 minutes.
"I'm very excited about Jeremy," Tigers coach Gus Malzahn said. "I started recruiting him when he was in ninth grade, and he ran a very similar offense. This will be his third year in our system, and even though he's been the backup, he got a lot of reps with the ones in practice."
Junior Jeremy Johnson will quarterback Gus Malzahn's Auburn Tigers this season after spending the past two years as Nick Marshall's backup.Johnson also started for an injured Marshall during a 2013 game against Western Carolina and guided the Tigers to a school-record 712 yards and a 62-3 rout. He completed 17 of 21 passes against the Catamounts and tallied four touchdowns.
Spending most of last season on the sideline was a "humbling experience," according to Johnson, who is expected to direct a similar offense to what Marshall engineered the past two years.
"Nick Marshall was one of the better zone-read quarterbacks in recent history, but Jeremy has that ability," Malzahn said. "He can flat-out throw it and can make every throw that you ask him to, but he's a better runner than people think. He probably runs a 4.6, so he will allow us to call all our offense."
Johnson prefers the "high-4.5" range when talking about his speed, though he knows he will never be confused for his predecessor.
"Nick could just run around and run around and make all kinds of plays," Johnson said. "He's got that mobility. I don't, so I would get caught, but if I'm running downhill straight, I may never get caught.
"I'm a north and south runner. I can't run east and west."
The biggest attribute Johnson wants to take from Marshall is the ability to keep the same facial expression no matter how much adversity there is to overcome. Auburn had tough offensive outings last season against Kansas State, Mississippi State and Georgia, but a deteriorating defense was the biggest reason the Tigers slipped from 12-2 to 8-5.
Former Florida head coach Will Muschamp was hired this past winter to clean up the defensive quagmire, while Johnson is being counted on to continue Auburn's offensive success with a receiver contingent headed by Duke Williams, Ricardo Louis, Marcus Davis and Melvin Ray. Auburn is considered a national championship contender despite last season's late faltering, and Johnson already is being listed as a Heisman Trophy candidate.
"I don't get caught up in that," Johnson said. "All I can control is getting better every game. The accolades will come if we're winning, and I'm not surprised about the attention we are receiving. We're here to win championships. This season will come down to winning tough games at the end and how we handle adversity.
"We know we've got to win a lot of tough games this year."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.