Before Auburn began spring football practice, many observers tabbed junior Chris Todd as the man to beat in the Tigers’ four-way quarterback competition.

But Todd’s chances may have taken a hit Thursday.

The junior has been slowed by a sore shoulder since last season, when he missed at least two games at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas. Thursday, Auburn offensive coordinator Tony Franklin said the shoulder has flared up again.

“He felt like with good rehab he would be ready to go but it’s quite evident that he’s not,” Franklin said.

According to Franklin, the injury isn’t serious enough to require surgery. But it is preventing Todd from showing his full range of skills.

“What we’re seeing right now with him is not what he is,” Franklin said. “It’s not the kid that I remember throwing the football. He’s got a long way to go to get healthy. I don’t know when he’ll get healthy, but it’s probably not going to happen in the spring.”

Todd’s status for Saturday’s scrimmage is unknown.

“It might be that he just needs to keep throwing and maybe that will help,” Franklin said. “I don’t know.”

Todd’s injury is a setback for AU’s plan to tighten the quarterback depth chart.

Franklin wants to identify his top two quarterbacks as soon as possible, to give them the most practice reps with the first-team offense.

If Todd is sidelined, sophomores Kodi Burns and Neil Caudle and true freshman DeRon Furr will compete for the No. 1 job.

“I’d like to at least get it narrowed down to two (quarterbacks), because you can’t rep three,” Franklin said. “It’s just really hard to do. … You’d really just like to have one that can do everything, but right now we don’t have one that can do it all.”

Rhoads: Defense must be more physical
Auburn held its first practice in pads Thursday, including several periods of full-contact 11-on-11 drills. New defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads was not pleased with his unit’s response.

Rhoads said his defenders weren’t yet in football shape, and blamed a lack of energy for what he called a poor performance.

“I thought it was not near physical,” Rhoads said of Thursday’s practice. “I made sure I told them that before they left the field. Hopefully we’ll see a little more contact tomorrow afternoon.”

Franklin thought Rhoads might have been overstating things. After all, defensive coordinators don’t often see the bright side of things.

“That’s a normal defensive coach,” Franklin said. “If there’s not blood all over the place and they gave up 1 yard then it was a bad day.

“He’s like all of them. They’re all crazy.”

Injury report
Senior tailback Tristan Davis injured his toe Thursday. Tuberville said a teammate stepped on Davis’ toe. Those same circumstances led to a pair of foot injuries last season for Davis, who played in just two games in 2007.

“I’m sure it’s just sore, hopefully,” Tuberville said. “They’re going to X-ray that and see what happened.”

Defensive end Darrell Roseman underwent surgery earlier this week to help ease the pain of shin splints. Roseman has been plagued by painful stress fractures in his shins since his arrival at AU in 2006.

Doctors inserted a rod in one of Roseman’s legs in an effort to relieve the pain. Tuberville said he wasn’t sure how the surgery would affect Roseman’s playing career.

“I’m not going to play God on that one,” Tuberville said. “He could not go through a practice without his leg killing him. Time will tell on him.”

Walk-on offensive lineman Rudy Odom also recently had surgery to repair a torn ACL.

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