Most of the talk surrounding Auburn’s quarterback race this spring has centered, fairly, on Jarrett Stidham, Sean White and Woody Barrett.

But with White still limited as he recovers from a fractured right forearm suffered in the Sugar Bowl and John Franklin III splitting his time between quarterback and wide receiver, the passer getting the most reps behind Stidham and Barrett has been true freshman early enrollee Malik Willis.

“For a freshman, for a guy that really should be in high school getting ready for prom, I think he’s been really, really good,” offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey. “Malik is a very talented guy. He’s smart. He’s trying everything he can to soak in everything.”

Willis was a surprise addition to Auburn’s 2017 recruiting class. The Atlanta native was originally committed to Virginia Tech, but decommitted on Dec. 29 and pledged his services to Gus Malzahn and Auburn the very next day.

The Tigers may have gotten a steal, too. Willis was rated as a three-star athlete coming out of coming out of Roswell High, but that’s only because he didn’t start playing quarterback until late in his career.

As a senior, the 6-foot-1, 185-pound signal-caller passed for 2,562 yards, rushed for 1,033 more and scored 37 total touchdowns as he led the Hornets to the Class 7A state title game.

Malzahn even went so far as to compare Willis to a former Auburn quarterback who starred on the Plains in 2013 and 2014 while playing at a similar size (6-foot-1, 210 pounds).

“He reminds me a little bit of Nick Marshall with the way he runs and the way he throw the football,” Malzahn said. “Malik’s got a very strong arm, and that’s really what stands out to me right now.

“We really felt like, as a staff, if this guy had been playing quarterback for two to three years, he'd been one of the tops in the country.”

Willis has also benefitted from having Lindsey as his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. One, he’s come in on the same level playing field as the rest of the quarterbacks. And two, Lindsey has allowed Willis to continue to work with Sean McEvoy, a private quarterbacks coach based in Alpharetta, Georgia.

In the past, Malzahn and former offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee were reluctant to have Auburn’s quarterbacks receive outside coaching. With Malzahn now deferring to Lindsey on those matters, Willis was able to spend his spring break getting additional coaching.

Some of the thing the pair have worked on, per McEvoy’s Twitter account, are pocket presence, pocket movement, pressure throws and throws on the run.

“Those guys want to go work when they’re away from here, and really, they’re just working on fundamentals and trying to improve and get better,” Lindsey said. “And most of the guys they work with, or the few that they do, I know them anyway and I communicate with them. I don’t have a problem with them trying to go and get better.”

So far, Willis has done his best to take advantage.