Can Byrum Brown Be Auburn's Long-Awaited Answer at QB?

There have been many woes for the Auburn Tigers at quarterback for the last few seasons. But now, the Tigers are set to have a star at quarterback, which, according to ESPN’s Bill Connelly, is in the Top 10 pre-spring quarterback rankings of all Power 4 teams.

Byrum Brown, who recently transferred to Auburn from USF alongside his head coach, Alex Golesh, was a problem for opposing teams while in South Florida. Last season, Brown passed for 3,128 yards and 28 passing touchdowns, while rushing for 1,008 yards and 14 rushing touchdowns.

He is ranked 10th in Connelly’s rankings.

“In three years with new Auburn head coach Alex Golesh at USF, Brown twice topped 3,000 passing yards and 1,000 non-sack rushing yards; in fact, the only other QB in the 2020s to top 3,100 and 1,100, respectively, was Jayden Daniels in his 2023 Heisman campaign,” Connelly wrote.

Should Brown even match the outside expectations in 2026, he may go down as a one-year legend on the Plains.

Auburn has been plagued by bad quarterback play since Bo Nix left the Plains to transfer to Oregon, where he thrived as a Heisman Trophy finalist and first-round pick in the NFL Draft. Since then, the quarterbacks for the Tigers have had underwhelming performances from TJ Finley, Robby Ashford, Payton Thorne, Jackson Arnold and at the end of the Hugh Freeze era, Ashton Daniels.

All of the quarterbacks listed have resulted in no more than six wins every season since the 2021 season, while all but Thorne, who graduated, transferred from the program.

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Now, turning the page to the Golesh era, Brown will be the one taking snaps under center while passing to a familiar cast from USF, with Christian Neptune, Kory Pettigrew, Jeremiah Kroger, Chas Nimrod and Keyshaun Singleton all being wide receivers who transferred from USF to Auburn.

“Coach Golesh showed me his plan from day one when he got to USF, and now he came here and wanted to build something again,” Brown said, per Auburn senior writer Jeff Shearer. “Coach Golesh has never done me wrong. I have full trust and faith in him. What we have building here, I’m excited for the whole country to see.”

Auburn’s spring football practice begins on March 17 and will run for five weeks until the annual A-Day spring game on April 18.