FanHouse Kodi Burns

It's not like Auburn will be in a super hurry to name a starting quarterback when preseason practice opens Wednesday night. However, first-year head coach Gene Chizik certainly wouldn't mind if one of his five contenders emerged quickly.

The quarterback slot is far from the only lingering question, but it has been the most talked about on the Alabama Plains the past few months.

"Our quarterback situation is unique," Chizik said. "There's a unique dynamic there. There's some older guys with experience. Then all of a sudden, you have some young guys coming in on campus. We would like to get that situation resolved.

"How long that will take, we don't know."

Today the SEC released the Coaches' Preseason Football Team. There were three unanimous selections: Tennessee safety Eric Berry, LSU offensive lineman Ciron Black, and Alabama wide receiver Julio Jones. Noticing something surprising? Yep, someone didn't vote for Florida quarterback Tim Tebow. And before you throw Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt under the bus, assuming he voted for his player, Jevan Snead, over Tebow, keep this in mind, coaches weren't allowed to vote for their own players. So presumably someone other than Nutt left Tebow off the first team.

Wow.

But that's not even the most surprising detail.

Arkansas may have beaten Auburn on the field, but the Tigers may get the last laugh. Auburn went into the Razorbacks backyard today and signed one of the top quarterbacks in the country. This afternoon, Fort Smith, Arkansas quarterback Kodi Burns committed to Auburn in a press conference at his high school.

Burns is a consensus top five quarterbacks by all the recruiting services. He's been rated a five star prospect by Scout.com. Burns had narrowed his choices down to Auburn and Arkansas. He visited Auburn over the summer and fell in love with the campus.

"I committed to Auburn. It was a tough decision to make, but I felt like Auburn right now was the better choice for me," said Burns. "Both teams are doing good, but my decision didn't have anything to do with how the teams are doing. I just felt like at Auburn it would be a whole new experience for me.

Offensive line coach Hugh Nall and offensive coordinator Al Borges have been hot on the trail of Burns for a long time. But what sealed the deal was the attendance of Tommy Tuberville to one of Burns game. He said that showed him that Auburn was serious about him.

Burns will battle Blake Fields and Neil Caudle for the starting job in 2008 after Brandon Cox moves on.