How Ashton Daniels is Handling Auburn's QB Competition

AUBURN, Ala.- With there being a huge question mark at the quarterback position for the Auburn Tigers in their upcoming game against the Kentucky Wildcats, Auburn quarterbacks Jackson Arnold and Ashton Daniels are prepping in practice as if they will be the commander of the offense on Saturday.

Last week, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze pulled the plug on quarterback Arnold after he threw an 89-yard interception against the Arkansas Razorbacks with Daniels replacing him and leading the team to its first conference win of the season.

“Just coming out here and competing,” Daniels stated in reference to the ongoing quarterback battle at practice. “Iron always sharpens iron, and at the end of the day whoever is playing on Saturday is going to be prepared to get the win for us.”

The Auburn offense has consistently had a fast start and opening drive touchdowns, and then when the script runs dry, the offense begins to fall apart.

The decision to pull Arnold arguably could have been done sooner, but Freeze kept believing in his starting quarterback. But with his job seat very warm, he made the decision to put Daniels in the game to try to get a spark for his offense.

Auburn Tigers quarterback Jackson Arnold is fighting for his job. | Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

The Auburn offense scored on every possession when Daniels was in at quarterback. Although there were no offensive touchdowns, the offense still possessed the ball longer than a few plays to give their defense a breather and got points out of every drive.

Daniels, a transfer from Stanford, is not satisfied with how the offense performed.

“We as an offense and myself left a lot out there on the field," he said. "For example, we should’ve had an easy throw to Malcolm (Simmons), but my feet got a little antsy and I got out of the pocket, just things like that… I think it was a good game, but it’s also even better to go back and watch the film and see what we left out on the field and we could do better on Saturday.”

In previous matchups, the second-half time of possession was dominated by the opposing offenses. But in their last matchup, Auburn was able to flip the script in the second half and dominate the time of possession.

Although a new quarterback was in the game for Auburn, nothing changed play calling wise for the Tigers.

“Zero,” Freeze said when asked how the offense changes with Daniels at quarterback. "I think he and Jackson are very, very similar. Anything that we would do with one, I would feel comfortable doing the same with the other. They both have the ability to run. Different running styles, albeit. But still, they have the ability to, and the passing game doesn’t change at all.”

Whether it is Arnold or Daniels commanding the offense, Auburn cannot afford to drop this game. Sitting at 4-4 on the year, Auburn will likely need to win out for Freeze to keep his job at Auburn.

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