Auburn Starting Quarterback Expected to Enter Transfer Portal

Just a few weeks after Alex Golesh was announced as head coach, the Auburn Tigers are now set to lose another quarterback to the transfer portal.

Senior quarterback Ashton Daniels is planning to enter the transfer portal, Rivals’ Hayes Fawcett announced on X late Sunday morning. Daniels marks the second signal-caller to depart from the Tigers since the conclusion of the 2025 season, joining junior Jackson Arnold, who announced his intention to enter the portal earlier this month.

BREAKING: Auburn QB Ashton Daniels is entering the @TransferPortal, he tells @On3Sports

In the 4 games he played this season, Daniels totaled 1,077 yards and 5 TDs

1 year of eligibility lefthttps://t.co/RlUbB6Fk7q pic.twitter.com/PtxClnZxbj
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) December 21, 2025

"This is a post that I never wanted to or thought that I would make, but I am trusting God's plans for me. I know I promised a return to this amazing place, but things didn't work out how I thought they would," Daniels said in an Instagram post.

Daniels is referring to a comment he made after Auburn's season-ending loss to Alabama in the Iron Bowl, when he vowed that he was planning to come back for another year.

Daniels transferred to Auburn last offseason from Stanford as the expected backup to presumed starter Arnold. He stood as the Tigers’ second-stringer for slightly over half the season, but claimed the starting role in Auburn’s comeback win at Arkansas after Arnold was benched following a pick-six late in the second quarter.

A week after the Tigers came back to win their only SEC game of the season against the Razorbacks, the Buford, Ga., native was named Auburn’s starter for their next matchup versus Kentucky at home. The offensive performance was abhorrent on all cylinders, as Auburn fell to the Wildcats, 10-3, in Hugh Freeze’s last game at the helm.

After Freeze was fired, Auburn’s offense seemed to take a step in the right direction with former offensive coordinator Derrick Nix calling plays. The following week, despite a 45-38 overtime loss at Vanderbilt, the Tigers showed great improvement with Daniels under center. Daniels went 31-of-44 passing for 353 yards and two touchdowns, and he added 89 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries on the ground in what would be his best outing as an Auburn Tiger.

This may surprise some fans, as Daniels was viewed as a likely option to start under center for Golesh and company next season after finishing the year strong in Auburn’s last few games. He even sat out the matchup with Mercer to preserve his redshirt in anticipation that he would return to Auburn in 2026.

However, his status started trending in the opposite direction in recent days. Momentum began to intensify that Daniels would ultimately enter the portal, as freshman quarterback Deuce Knight remains on the roster, and various transfer portal names have been already floated regarding potential quarterbacks that Golesh could bring in when the portal window opens.

One of the most discussed names that has circulated in Auburn’s corner of social media is the South Florida standout quarterback Byrum Brown. He hasn’t announced his intention to enter the portal yet, but the assumption is that if he were to enter, Brown would likely follow Golesh and the Bulls’ offensive staff to the Plains.

Brown has been nothing but impressive for USF, most recently recording 3, 158 yards and 28 touchdowns with seven interceptions through the air in 2025. He also totaled 1,008 yards and 14 touchdowns on the ground as a redshirt junior, and currently owns 15 USF program records, most of which were claimed in an outstanding 2023 campaign as a redshirt freshman.

Brown has spent four seasons with the Bulls, but he only saw action in four games in his first year at USF in 2022, meaning he still holds one more year of eligibility. This could be used as a pitch to Knight, who will be a redshirt freshman in 2026, that Brown only has one more season remaining. Golesh and company could certainly be telling Knight that the former five-star will be “the guy” after Brown is out of eligibility, which would make Knight the starter as a redshirt sophomore.

The situation could’ve definitely turned Daniels away, as he may have felt Knight on his heels, or maybe he got the feeling that Golesh would look to the transfer portal for a higher-level, more proven quarterback. However, no matter the reason, Auburn now has one quarterback on its current roster.

The transfer portal window opens on Jan. 2, 2026, and Golesh and the Tigers will undoubtedly explore options in what’s already a loaded haul of quarterbacks who have declared their intention to enter, including Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt, Florida’s D.J. Lagway, Iowa State’s Rocco Becht, Nebraska’s Dylan Raiola, and Cincinnati’s Brendan Sorsby, just to name a few.