Ken Mastrole expects these types of answers from Sean White.
"I've just got to go out and do it again," White said matter-of-factly to Mastrole recently. "I'm ready to go."
The redshirt junior understands that Jarrett Stidham is widely viewed as the favorite to win Auburn's starting quarterback job after joining the program in January. White has told people close to him he thinks the Baylor transfer is a very good quarterback.
But he is plenty confident in his own ability, feels he's grown from starting 16 games the last two seasons and believes he has what it takes to win the starting job. He's already looking forward to competing with Stidham when the Tigers begin fall camp in August.
"People shouldn't write him off at all," said Mastrole, White's long-time private quarterback coach. "He's a super competitive guy, one of the more competitive guys that I've ever been around, like one of those guys that you could kick his ass and he's going to get up and keep coming back at you. He's just a quarterback that brings something to the table that people, even since high school, they just know he's got that dog in him. And he's also dead-ass accurate."
The situation is great for Auburn.
There aren't many other schools around the country with two quarterbacks as collectively talented as Stidham and White. Either way, the Tigers will have a backup that could be starting at other programs around the country.
Stidham showed his talent during Auburn's spring game, throwing for 267 yards despite only playing one half. White proved himself to be an efficient SEC quarterback last year before suffering a separated shoulder in a win against Ole Miss in October.
Auburn was 6-1 last season in the seven games White was healthy and played from start to finish. In those seven games, the former four-star recruit completed 71.5 percent of his passes (103 of 144) and threw eight touchdowns with just one interception.
White is now back healthy after being limited throughout the spring while recovering from the broken forearm he suffered early in Auburn's Sugar Bowl loss to Oklahoma. In addition to rehabbing and learning new offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey's offense, White has been focusing on getting bigger and stronger. He is up to 215 pounds after being listed last year at 200 pounds.
Though White only took part in 7-on-7 and 1-on-1 drills this spring, Tigers coach Gus Malzahn said of White on Wednesday, "You can tell he's improved."
Even after starting 10 games last year for the Tigers, White enters fall camp as the underdog. There isn't anywhere near the hype for White that there's been for Stidham this offseason. Former Baylor safeties coach Cris Dishman told AL.com Stidham is a "taller Drew Brees." Trenton Kirklin, Stidham's private coach, said he expects "nothing short of a championship and a Heisman" for Stidham's time at Auburn.
White doesn't have Stidham-like size or arm strength.
His strengths? Being "dead-ass accurate," as Mastrole said, along with mental toughness and a knack for thriving in big spots after being doubted.
Mastrole referenced three situations.
In 2013, White was named MVP of the Elite 11 quarterback camp over players such as former Clemson star Deshaun Watson, ex-Notre Dame standout DeShone Kizer and the top-ranked pro-style quarterback in their recruiting class (Kyle Allen). "Nobody wanted him at the Elite 11, and we're standing on a table trying to get him in," Mastrole said. "And then it was like 'OK, we're going to let him in,' and he wins the whole thing."
White was then MVP of the Under Armour All-American Game in January 2014 after being merely a replacement selection for the event.
Then, last year, White was widely overlooked in an Auburn quarterback competition that pitted him against a much-hyped junior college transfer in John Franklin III and then-senior Jeremy Johnson. White ended up winning the starting job and helped Auburn win six straight games following a 1-2 start before a November loss to Georgia during which the shoulder injury clearly limited White.
"I've been around a lot of quarterbacks," Mastrole said, "but he's always been one that you see his history and he's always been a winner, a last minute, chip on the shoulder kind of guy."
That's why White said what he did to Mastrole during that recent conversation, "I've just got to go out and do it again."