Auburn Receives Votes in Preseason AP Poll

While the Auburn Tigers have sold some voters on next season, it's going to take winning to win others over

Auburn has a lot to prove, but some are giving them the benefit of the doubt | Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Auburn Tigers are once again finding themselves on the outside looking in to start the college football season. 

Along with the Coaches Poll, the AP Poll has left Auburn unranked to start the season. However, they received votes and could be unofficially ranked No. 37 in the country based on points. 

The Tigers are unofficially ranked No. 32 in the Coaches Poll. 

Even with the overhauls that were made over the offseason, there is still a lot for Hugh Freeze and company to prove. Winning is the best cure for uncertainty, and Auburn still lacks the wins. 

Auburn is 12-13 overall with one bowl appearance in two seasons under Freeze. He has been tasked with fixing a program that went off course toward the end of the Gus Malzahn era in 2020. So far, we’re still waiting for change. 

In their 5-7 finish last season, they lost multiple close games and had only two conference wins: One to Kentucky and one upset win over Texas A&M. 

Fortunately, being a legacy SEC program, if they can get going this season, they’ll find themselves ranked in the polls rather quickly. 

Auburn enters the season with an entirely new quarterback room. Payton Thorne is in the NFL. He signed with the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent. Hank Brown and Walker White both left the Plains via the transfer portal. Brown is now in Iowa with the Hawkeyes, and White is now with Baylor. 

Freeze brought in Jackson Arnold from Oklahoma to become the starting quarterback. Once a top recruit in the country, Arnold now looks to prove himself after a couple of lackluster seasons in Norman.

Along with Arnold, top quarterback recruit Deuce Knight and Stanford transfer Ashton Daniel will make up the quarterback room. 

Arnold will have a top young wide receiver at his disposal in Cam Coleman, along with transfer wide receiver Erick Singleton Jr. 

They have the options at quarterback and wide receiver, but they still need to see who emerges as the one who fills the shoes of running back Jarquez Hunter, who went to the NFL. A top candidate is Damari Alston. He rushed for only 276 yards, but the top note comes from his average of 5.3 yards per carry. 

Even with the small sample size, he has a shot to lead the way with a higher volume of snaps. 

Auburn gets its season underway out in Texas when it takes on Baylor on Aug. 29.