Every quarterback that we know is currently available in the transfer portal
As of midnight central time on April 20, there are 18 quarterbacks that we know of in the transfer portal. I say “that we know of” because it is possible for someone to be in the portal and be on the no-contact list nor has told anyone.
The burning question as we pass the fifth day of what has been an extremely quiet portal: Are any of them a good fit for Auburn?
Here is the current list. Asterisks in front indicate possible candidates that register at all for Auburn. We will look at the possibilities at the end of the list.
*Chance Nolan (transfer out of Oregon State)
Chase Wolf (transfer out of Wisconsin)
Kinkhead Dent (transfer out of Ole Miss)
-Dent is available for inter-SEC transfer immediate eligibility as he met the requirement of hitting the portal on or before January 18-
*Micah Bowens (transfer out of Oklahoma)
Jordan Smith (transfer out of USF)
Cameron Peters (transfer out of UTSA)
Knox Kadum (transfer out of McNeese State)
Brady McBride (transfer out of App State)
Ben Finley(transfer out of NC State)
Kaden Cobb (transfer out of Ball State)
Jacob Knuth (transfer out of Minnesota)
Ethan Vasko (transfer out of Kansas)
Caden Becker (transfer out of Wyoming)
Chase Brewster (transfer out of UMass)
Damon Stewart (transfer out of UAB)
Bennett Meredith (transfer out of Arizona State)
Dontrell Jackson (transfer out of Coastal Carolina)
*Harrison Bailey (Transfer out of UNLV)
It would be wise to parse this list down a bit further, of those having an asterisk, here are the ones that are possible but not probable:
Micah Bowens (transfer out of Oklahoma)
Bowens announced his intent to transfer on January 24 of this year. He was initially recruited to Penn State, red-shirted, then transferred to Oklahoma. Bowens, out of Las Vegas, Nevada, is a rather slight quarterback coming in at six-foot even and weighing in at 190 pounds.
He is a pro-style quarterback that has a decent scrambling ability. He has a good arm, great velocity, and can make all the throws. He is not mechanically sound and would be a project for any quarterback coach. He is an outstanding scramble/rushing quarterback. The knock on him is that he doesn’t want to. He prefers to stay in the pocket and avoid contact. He has been noted to throw the ball away on designed quarterback runs.
He has only seen the field in the Oklahoma spring games, where his numbers over the past two years are similar to Robby Ashford’s. He did get credit for one ninety-five-yard completion in the 2022 spring game. It was, however, a wide receiver screen.
With three years of eligibility left, he is more of a project quarterback and wouldn’t add much to the current Auburn situation. I would say the possibility is about 2% on this guy being contacted by Auburn.
Harrison Bailey (transfer out of UNLV)
If this name seems familiar to you, it is because he played in 6 SEC games for Tennessee to close out the covid season. He ended up transferring out to UNLV when Hendon Hooker beat him out for the Tennessee starting job in 2021. He was just getting used to head coach Marcus Arroyo’s offense when the Runnin’ Rebels fired him and hired ex-Mizzou coach Barry Odom. Halfway through his very first practice under Odom, Bailey left UNLV and has now placed his name back in the portal hoping for a return to the SEC.
There are some sites stating that he would have to drop to the FCS level or sit out a year. However, he and several more reputable sites say he is considered a grad transfer and has immediate availability. He would have two years of availability left due to redshirting and the COVID-19 eligibility season.
The reason Bailey is interesting is that he has started in the SEC, and was a highly touted 4-star recruit out of Georgia who claimed the Manning Passing Academy MVP in 2020. He also has the size, six-foot-five and 229 pounds, has a HUGE arm, and is very accurate. Is this a kid that is just been underdeveloped and shuffled around by circumstance, or is he a bust? Can the resident quarterback whisperers at Auburn work their magic on Bailey? Do they even want to? I am placing the odds low on this one. Auburn has a couple of young quarterbacks and a few more coming in. They might contact him, but I do not see room for him at Auburn.
Chance Nolan (transfer out of Oregon State)
As reported nearly a week ago here, Auburn has been in contact with transfer portal quarterback Chance Nolan. There was no movement as far as an offer or any signing, but Auburn did reach out. That leads one to believe there is more than just a small interest in this young man coming to Auburn. So, there is a 100% chance he will be contacted by Auburn. That is up from the 40% chance I originally gave him!
Nolan, a six-foot-three 193-pound junior, a transfer out of the Oregon State Beavers program, is one player that could move the needle for an SEC school. He has fifteen games as a starter under his belt, which is the experience that would be welcomed on a lot of teams. He has thrown 270 completed passes over the last two years for over 3,000 yards. With that came 26 touchdowns to 18 interceptions and an average quarterback rating of around 140. He also added 286 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns. The caveat here is that the bulk of that came the season before last.
Last season, he was playing very well when a concussion in the fifth game ended his season. His career completion rate is only 59%. The concussion was brutal, it has also been described as a neck injury. Either way, he has the talent and experience that will land him somewhere as a starting quarterback.
Is that "somewhere" Auburn? More than anything one has to believe that Auburn is looking for quality starting experience in a portal quarterback this go around. There will be very few in the portal who have more than Chance Nolan.
Hot Take: With no offer made, and with how long Nolan has been in the portal, one has to wonder if Nolan was looked at and possibly discussed as a backup quarterback for Auburn’s 2023 campaign. He would not be someone that one could name as a definitive starter going into summer as other options would. He has a great skill set and could fit into the Auburn offense nicely. The injury factor is scary. Of course, injuries can always happen, but looking at a quarterback with that serious of a head/neck injury as either starting ahead of or supporting Robby Ashford, who himself is an injury liability, just isn’t the best course of action for Auburn right now. I originally listed him as low on the board. He had to move up because Auburn contacted him. I still think there is only a 10-15% chance Auburn makes this move.
Looking at the options, there just isn’t a lot available right now. That is more than likely the reason Auburn has not made a move yet. Expect things to get much busier for everyone involved after the rest of the Spring games finish up this coming Saturday. Buckle in folks, it is going to be a wild final 7 days of the portal season.
The Tigers have now had five players depart from the program within the last couple of weeks, including three backup linebackers:
Wide Receiver Tar'Varish Dawson
Defensive lineman Jeffrey M'ba
Linebacker Kameron Brown
Linebacker Desmond Tisdol
Linebacker Powell Gordon
Auburn has pulled in an impressive haul thus far during Hugh Freeze's first season on the Plains, currently sitting at No. 3 nationally in 247Sports' transfer portal class rankings.
You can check out our transfer portal tracker here. Stay up to date on all of the Tigers' commitments, departures, and prospects for key positions at auburndaily.com.
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