© Jake Crandall / USA TODAY NETWORK
OPINION: Robby Ashford looked the part on Saturday
The Auburn Tigers Football Team was back in action at Jordan-Hare Stadium today for the annual A-Day spring football game. The quarterback race become an even more interesting situation after Robby Ashford flat-out looked better than TJ Finley on Saturday.
Finley was 11 for 19 passing today throwing to the starting receivers and tight ends for a completion percentage of 58%. Ashford completed 12 of his 16 passing attempts today for a 75% completion percentage. The young gunslinger Holden Geriner completed 9 of his 12 attempts today for a 75% completion percentage.
Saturday was big for Finley to show this coaching staff what he can do in a game setting since his leading competitor for the starting job, Zach Calzada, was unable to play due to being limited during spring practices. Finley fell short of that goal to separate himself in this quarterback race.
Finley had one great deep ball that was a surefire touchdown that was dropped by Tar’Varish Dawson proving stats don’t always tell the whole story. Finley also threw a perfect ball to Malcom Johnson, Jr for a touchdown late in the first half.
One word you could use to sum up Finley’s day and his entire college career is inconsistent. He had a few beautiful throws and a few awful ones. He still has so much arm talent and potential but his showing at A-Day did not make the case for improvement in his overall accuracy.
Ashford showed he is a diverse football player in today’s game. He had a few impressive throws and made smart decisions to leave the pocket and use his legs to pick up a first down. He completed two similar passes to Ze’Vian Capers. The only difference between the two passes was one was a perfectly thrown ball and the other was a step behind Capers. All and all, Ashford had a day of accurate throws and using his legs. I think he took a real step forward in making it known he is a contender in the quarterback race as well.
Holden Geriner, Auburn true freshman quarterback, had a great outing which was highlighted by a beautiful touchdown pass to Landen King during the last few seconds of the game. You could tell the Auburn coaching staff wanted to make him feel comfortable early with some passes close to the line of scrimmage which he completed every time. Geriner showed a quick release and made it clear that he is the future of this football program.
At the end of the game after Geriner connected with King for the touchdown, the quarterbacks celebrated with Geriner showing the closeness of this group. The other thing we learned from this meeting in the endzone was that Finley needs to work on his Griddy. It was clear that head coach Bryan Harsin is a better dancer than Auburn’s potential starting quarterback.
All these three quarterbacks had more success with throws inside of the numbers, but this is to be expected since throws outside of the number usually come with a higher level of difficulty. While Finley might not have had the day that he and Auburn fans would have wanted, I thought the quarterback room did a good job in A-Day and the future is bright.
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