Auburn quarterback battle: What we know, what we don't know

Here's what we know about Auburn's quarterback situation after a few days of fall camp.

Author:
Lance Dawe
Publish date:
Aug 12, 2022 4:40 PM EDT

In this story:

Almost no separation has been made in AUburn's quarterback battle during the first week of fall camp.

Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin made it clear that things would start to shift once the first scrimmage (which begins Saturday night) came and went, but it has still been interesting to see the lack of change among the first and second team offenses when it comes to QB rotation.

Harsin has let TJ Finley do his thing with the first team offense for the most part. However, there's a feeling that he won't hold onto those reps forever.

What do we know about this quarterback race? What can we assume?

Here's a look at the four quarterbacks in the competition, their backgrounds, and what they've been doing before the arrival of fall camp.

TJ Finley

TJ Finley transferred in from LSU during the 2021 offseason. He competed with incumbent Bo Nix for playing time, but couldn't do anything but merely push Nix in camp. He began the season as the backup for the Tigers.

Four games into the season Bo Nix was benched for Finley against Georgia State. After going 13 of 27 (48.1%) with no touchdowns, Nix left the game with the Tigers down 24-12 in the third quarter. The ensuing State drive, Auburn blocked a Panthers punt and returned it for a touchdown to make it a one score game. Another punt, this time unblocked, left TJ Finley and the offense with 2:45 left in the third to try and lead the Tigers on their first touchdown drive of the game.

His first three drives ended with a missed field goal, a punt, and a fumble on Georgia State's 31-yard line.

Auburn forced the Panthers into their sixth consecutive punt, and TJ Finley led the Tigers on a 13-play, 98-yard drive that concluded with a wild touchdown pass to Shedrick Jackson on fourth down. Smoke Monday housed an interception to make the final score Auburn 34, Georgia State 24.

There was a small portion of the fanbase that was calling for Nix's job before the beginning of the season, and after Finley stepped in and led the Tigers to a win they desperately needed, the voices asking for TJ to start to start grew louder.

Auburn chose to stick with Nix for the next six games. It took Nix's season-ending injury against Mississippi State for Finley to step back into a starting role.

TJ started the final three games of the season for the Tigers in 2021, completing 55.8% of his passes for 552 yards (184 passing yards per game), four touchdowns and one interception. Auburn lost all three games by a combined 10 points.

There were rumors that Finley's accuracy had improved during spring practice. According to reports, he looked like a better version of himself. He finished the spring game 11 of 19 for 137 yards and one touchdown. It didn't look like much had changed. Oregon transfer QB Robby Ashford won A-Day Offensive MVP.

Finley entered the summer without much fanfare... but still in the mix for what has been the most tightly-contested quarterback battle the Tigers have had in quite some time. Texas A&M transfer Zach Calzada (who missed the spring because of injury) got healthy, and started working out with the receivers during the offseason.

This was well documented on social media.

Now, we enter fall camp with Finley taking the majority of first-team reps. He's not looked great, but he's not as far behind the pack as some might have assumed entering camp.

He's firmly in the mix (some might say the leader) and has a legitimate chance to win the starting job. It will be interesting to see where the battle stands after Auburn's first scrimmage on Saturday. We currently don't know what the pecking order will look like following that practice, but we can assume that Finley will have some sort of share of the first team reps following.

Zach Calzada

Calzada was forced into action at Texas A&M following an injury to starter Haynes King against Colorado. He completed 184 of 327 of his passes (56.3%) for 2,185 yards, 17 touchdowns, and nine interceptions.

After suffering an injury against Auburn, Calzada finished the season but received shoulder surgery in the offseason. He transferred to Auburn and did not play in the Tigers' spring game, but received very limited reps in practice.

Calzada took to social media during the offseason to post videos of workouts with quarterback coaches and Auburn receivers. I wouldn't necessarily say the workout videos skewed the fanbase's perception of Calzada and the QB competition, but the perception was that the job was shifting in his favor. Bryan Harsin's comments on Zach at SEC Media Days somewhat confirmed this.

Enter fall camp. The expectation for some was for Calzada to begin to separate himself early in camp and eventually win the job over either Finley or Ashford when Harsin trimmed the battle.

There's been little to no separation between Calzada and the rest of the group. In fact, it feels like he's slipped a bit.

Maybe that "slip" is only considered a slip simply because of the preseason expectations Auburn fans collectively put on him.

Robby Ashford

Ashford was buried on Oregon's depth chart before transferring to Auburn earlier this offseason. He was a four-star quarterback coming out of high school.

He won Offensive MVP in Auburn's A-Day spring game after going 12 of 16 for 132 yards. There has not been a ton of buzz surrounding him since his performance at A-Day, but he has not gone away quietly in fall camp as some might have expected.

Ashford is the only dual-threat quarterback Auburn has on roster, and Bryan Harsin has recently pointed out his running ability and the value Robby brings to the game.

We don't know if the pair of awards Ashford has won during practice over the last few days is just praise, or if it is something that the fanbase can legitimately take into consideration as this battle moves along.

Holden Geriner

Geriner, a four-star quarterback in Auburn's 2022 recruiting class, will likely finish fourth on the depth chart coming out of camp. He's still very raw in a lot of areas, but does possess the most touch of the group.

If he does not transfer, he will have a shot at competing and winning the job in the near future.

Geriner completed 9 of 11 passes for 71 yards and a touchdown during A-Day.

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