Byrum Brown Falls Surprisingly Low in Josh Pate’s SEC Quarterback Rankings

The Auburn Tigers’ 2026 offensive hopes, in large part, will hinge on their new quarterback, Byrum Brown, a senior USF transfer who was the only quarterback in the FBS last year to pass for over 3,000 yards and rush for an additional 1,000+ yards.

There has been quite a lot of confidence in the Tigers’ new signal-caller, though not everyone is convinced he will be as dominant as many project him to be.

Case in point: on Tuesday, Josh Pate released his official preseason SEC quarterback rankings on a segment of his college football show, and Brown made the list, albeit at No. 9. This is in something of a contrast to his earlier rankings, in which he ranked Brown as the second-best newcoming SEC quarterback.

“The transition to higher-level football is really the only thing you can question here,” Pate said. “[Brown has] played several games at South Florida against P4 [Power Four] competition, and he scaled his game. He scaled his production… He’s familiar with the system.. I put Byrum Brown at nine, but I wouldn’t have a problem with people putting him higher than that.”

Pate has seemingly always been on the side of people who believe Brown will have a strong, but not Heisman-level, performance at Auburn this year–something of a middle ground between those who believe he will be a bust and those who believe he is the next Cam Newton.

Interestingly, Pate did not bring up what is, perhaps, the most popular talking point surrounding Brown, at least in this offseason: his throwing motion. However, Pate has addressed his thoughts on that particular issue in previous episodes of his show, and he has been pretty clear that he does not think this unique throwing motion is something for Tiger fans to worry about.

“There’s a lot of arm angle propaganda out there about Byrum Brown right now,” he said back in June, “and I have not bought into it. Mainly because it’s not an unknown commodity. Byrum Brown has played, like, 9,000 games. We know Byrum Brown, and he knows his supporting cast.”

So, though this may not be the massive vote of confidence Tiger fans have been hoping for, it may prove to be just that much more fuel to the fire of Brown, who is looking to make his first–and only–season with the Tigers one that the fans will never forget. Tiger fans can only hope that they’ll be remembering this season for the right reasons.

Sign up for our free Auburn Tigers newsletter and follow us on Facebook and X for the latest news!

Add us as a preferred source on Google