Auburn QB says arm strength just fine

AUBURN — Retrospectively, Chris Todd’s struggles of a year ago came back to his ailing throwing shoulder.

Now, with the Auburn offense resting on his shoulders, Todd is just struggling.

If you’re hunches have you leaning toward making a medical diagnosis of your own to explain Todd’s recent woes, Auburn’s head coach and the man, himself, have some short answers and stern looks for you.

“No,” Gene Chizik said.

“It’s fine,” Todd said.

So what’s happened?

In his first five games, Todd was one of the biggest comeback stories of the year in college football. Thriving with the installation of Gus Malzahn’s fast-paced offense, Todd had 12 touchdown passes, more than 1,200 passing yards and just one interception.

“Chris has done an outstanding job week by week trying to operate and manage and run the offense, and he has done a really nice job of that,” Chizik said after Todd’s record-setting, five-touchdown game against Ball State. “On several throws he put that ball about the only place you could put it.”

Three games and two losses later, Chizik was left defending Todd and his perceived lack of job security that usually comes in the wake of two poor performances.

“We’ve named our starting quarterback,” Chizik said. “We’ve also seen him play very well. We’ve got to continue to get better. It’s not just Chris. It’s our whole team. It’s our offensive line at times. Nobody sees that. It’s our wideouts blocking on the perimeter.

Nobody sees that. It’s all that.”

Todd completed just 10-of-24 passes Saturday for a season-low 80 yards and threw his second interception of the season.

That followed a 15-of-28 for 133 yards and touchdown-less performance against Arkansas, which came into that game having one of the worst pass defenses in the nation.

What made Saturday’s performance more concerning than the Arkansas game, though, were the many wayward attempts to open receivers and the many open receivers he simply overlooked.

One particular instance came on a fourth-and-5 play in the third quarter, when Todd forced a pass to Darvin Adams, who was bogged down by double coverage. Meanwhile, tight end Tommy Trott stood alone in the end zone with defenders more than 10 yards away.

Trott, unfazed by the play, came out as one of Todd’s biggest supporters Sunday.

“I’m not going to fault him for not finding me. That’s just the way it goes sometimes,” Trott said.

“But he’s fine. He’s a tough kid. Great leader and he bounced back already (Sunday) at practice. He’s a very vocal leader and he was doing just great (Sunday).”

That feeling was unanimous among players Sunday, one year after many admitted the team divided when the coaching staff flipped and flopped between Todd and Kodi Burns.

Todd admitted earlier this year that his confidence took a beating last year, but that largely dealt with the strength in his shoulder, which has since been surgically repaired. Now that his shoulder is fine, Todd said there’s nothing to be worried about, especially since the Tigers still rank eighth in the nation in total offense.

Todd isn’t doing too lousy, either, ranking 37th in the nation in passing efficiency — two spots higher than Texas quarterback Colt McCoy, whom many consider a Heisman Trophy candidate frontrunner.

“It’s not like we haven’t done things this season,” Todd said. “We have. We’ve been successful. We’ve put points on the board and moved the ball well.

“Really, we just need to go back and watch the film. The biggest thing is us executing and doing things right. That starts with me.”
Todd’s job appears as safe as it was when Chizik named him the starter in August — much unlike the tenuous security he had last season, when one incompletion had the potential to land him on the bench.

He’s still approaching it with the 2008 mindset, but with the 2009 shoulder.

“I think you always need to prepare and play every day like you’re competing for your job,” Todd said. “That’s the way I try to go about practice. There’s always stuff to improve on — even when we’re winning.”