Sean White is one of the most efficient returning quarterbacks in the country, but he will be the backup for Auburn entering this season.
While White's passer rating last season was ahead of Florida State's Deondre Francois, Alabama's Jalen Hurts and Ohio State's J.T. Barrett, none of those quarterbacks had to compete with Jarrett Stidham, who was named Auburn's starter on Monday following 10 fall camp practices.
"Sean White is our No. 2 quarterback," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said Monday night. "Sean White is a guy that we have a lot of confidence in. Obviously, has won games, has performed extremely well at a high level in this league when he's been healthy."
After being limited in spring practice while recovering from offseason surgery on his broken forearm, White was afforded the opportunity to compete for the starting job this month but was outshined by Stidham, whose superior arm strength and accuracy was evident.
Though Malzahn said White did "a lot of good things" this month, the redshirt-junior threw two interceptions during Auburn's first scrimmage and at least one more during Saturday's second scrimmage.
Malzahn has repeatedly referred to Auburn's quarterback play over the past two season as the team's "Achilles heel." It's a position the fifth-year Tigers coach feels will change with improved depth this season with Stidham as the starter, White as the backup and true freshman Malik Willis as a player that's quickly garnered a lot of praise for his dual-threat abilities.
Malzahn said it was "really not a debate" about White being the backup and Willis being No. 3 on the depth chart, preferably to redshirt this season.
"Sean White could start for a whole lot of teams in this league," Malzahn said. "So no, he's our No. 2 quarterback. Malik is a very good player; he's impressed us but Sean White's our No. 2 quarterback and there's really no gray to him being our No. 2 quarterback."
How White, who previously said he would graduate in either December or in May 2018, looks at his future on the Plains beyond this season will impact Auburn's plans at the position, particularly if he were to pursue a graduate transfer.
Stidham said White has had his back since the coaches made their decision.
"They brought us in individually this morning and told us what was going to happen, and Sean, he's been nothing but supportive all day today," Stidham said. "Very positive. Very positive. And upbeat. So it's been really good."
White started 16 games over the past two seasons, including 10 last season while completing an SEC-best 63.9 percent of his passes for 1,679 yards with nine touchdowns and three interceptions.
Despite his efficiency, White's inability to remain healthy throughout the course of a season led to Auburn ranking last in the SEC and 112th nationally in passing offense (169.5 yards per game) last year.
White's career has been plagued by four known injuries, including a broken forearm in the Sugar Bowl that led to offseason surgery and his being limited during spring practice.
Earlier last season, he suffered an AC joint sprain in his throwing shoulder against Ole Miss and aggravated it against Georgia and in 2015, he suffered a knee injury against Arkansas and ankle injury against Ole Miss that caused him to miss three of the last four games of the regular season.
"Anytime you're a coach -- I don't care what position it is -- and you have good competition and you have to tell someone that they're not going to be the starter, it's not an easy thing," Malzahn said. "I will tell you this, Sean is a great competitor. Sean is very mature. He's going to do everything in his power to help this team win. ... He's got to keep preparing like he's going to play and I expect him to do that."