Auburn Football: Winners and Losers from Tigers' 2016 Spring

Three quarterbacks entered the spring game as co-leaders for the starting spot this fall. After watching the annual A-Day Game, it's probably safe to say that there are still three co-leaders for the job.

Despite hoping to see one of the three (Sean White, Jeremy Johnson and John Franklin III) step forward and take a leading spot in the race, we saw three quarterbacks who all had differing areas of strength and weakness. In short, the race is still very much wide open.

So, who really came out on top after Auburn's 2016 spring game? Let's go over our list of winners and losers.

Full stats from Auburn's 2016 A-Day Game are available here.

A lot of things could have gone wrong in defensive coordinator Kevin Steele's first spring game at Auburn. Most of those things, if not all of them, didn't happen.

In fact, from a defensive standpoint, Auburn looked fairly well-prepared for anything and everything that the offensive teams threw at it.

Granted, that might not be saying much when you're talking about an offense that ranked 94th in the FBS last season in yards per game (370), but if anything, the Tigers defense will probably take a step forward after a middling 2015.

When things aren't working, a fresh perspective can sometimes help. It's also a big help to add some top-tier talent, as Auburn welcomes back some returning stars and a fresh influx of underclassman recruits. But until proved otherwise when this batch of Tigers takes the field against Clemson in Week 1 this fall, we're going with the working assumption that Steele is poised to improve upon last season's total-defense numbers (405.2 yards allowed per game, tied for 71st in the FBS).

It's probably way too early to say that head coach Gus Malzahn is on the hot seat at Auburn, but there's little question that the temperature is beginning to rise. One thing that could save his bacon is an offensive resurgence. After all, Malzahn was supposed to be the next offensive genius at Auburn.

Rethinking that moniker is probably a good idea at this point.

His offense went a combined 1-of-22 on third down in the spring game. Think about that for a moment. 1-of-22. That's a conversion rate of just 4.5 percent.

Malzahn has been hands-on with the offense this spring, and he'll be intimately controlling all aspects of the offense this fall, so if things don't improve, he won't have anyone else to blame but himself.

And right now, things aren't looking favorable.

After an impressive freshman season at Auburn, Carl Lawson was sidelined for his sophomore season with an ACL injury. He then injured his hip in last season's opener and missed six games.

If there are any lingering effects from these injuries, Lawson didn't show it on the field Saturday. He was a force on defense, showing up all over the field, in the offensive backfield and generally wherever the football was.

Auburn can use all of the help it can get wherever it can get it, and the help that a fully healthy Lawson can give to the defense cannot be overstated. He was credited with four solo tackles, including two for loss, and one sack.

AL.com posed the question, "Will John Franklin make Auburn great again?"

We probably have our answer.

The one-time Florida State Seminole and JUCO transfer from East Mississippi Community College was touted as potentially the next great quarterbacking star to lead the Tigers to glory. While it's difficult to get any sense of exactly where a quarterback stands after watching a spring game in which he isn't "live" (can't be hit), it's also safe to say that after watching him go 6-of-11 for 61 yards on Saturday, JF3 didn't quite impress.

With the Blue team, however, he was just 1-of-5 for zero yards passing.

Okay, we know you're thinking, "But Franklin's a big-time runner, so he'll contribute in the running game."  His combined stats for both teams showed zero rushing yards on three attempts.

Again, it's hard to tell exactly what we'll get from a quarterback once he's fair game on the football field, but as of right now, Auburn fans can't be too thrilled.

The good thing from Franklin's standpoint is the simple fact that none of the contenders provided any standout quarterback play.

With all three interior linemen returning for the 2016 season, whoever ends up starting at quarterback will have some much-needed experience in front of him.

It's even more important when you have a team that will likely win or lose based on the success of the power running game. All spring, the three big men—Alex Kozan, Austin Golson and Braden Smith—have provided some necessary leadership.

And even while replacing both tackles, only three Auburn defenders recorded sacks in the spring game.

Having the interior three return and play well might seem like a small victory, but for a struggling offense, Auburn will take small victories.

There are plenty of ways to ask your girl to marry you, but if you're both Auburn fans, why not just do it at an Auburn game?

Can't wait until the fall? The A-Day Game will do just fine.

Plus, it's probably a lot easier to make your way down on to the field in April. This guy did it right.

Maybe the happy couple can plan a tailgate reception for the 2016 season...

Auburn fans aren't used to 7-6 seasons. Auburn fans aren't used to 2-6 SEC records. Auburn fans aren't used to seeing their Tigers struggle to score points.

All of those things happened last season, and without some major—and we mean major—work on offense between now and September 2, things probably won't get a whole lot better in 2016.

Are we ready to write Auburn's 2016 hopes off as a lost cause? Absolutely not. But based on what we saw throughout spring football this year, we're not willing to put too much faith in 2016 being a remarkable turnaround season for the Tigers.

Reaching eight wins isn't out of the realm of possibility, but depending on how the offense shapes up and the strides made by the rest of Auburn's 2016 opponents, neither is reaching eight losses.