Why Auburn May Be Following in Footsteps of Other Trending SEC Programs

The Auburn Tigers have some parallels to two SEC programs, one of which was in the CFP and one that is turning things around

Auburn could be trending upward | Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Auburn Tigers’ transfer portal and 2025 recruiting class have been very good for them. The Tigers finished within the top 10 for the second straight season, something that head coach Hugh Freeze could be very proud of. However, the Tigers also lost all three scholarship quarterbacks in the transfer portal and last season's starter, Payton Thorne, is graduating and going pro. With that being the case, the Tigers had to look for the next quarterback. 

They decided on the disgruntled Oklahoma Sooners transfer quarterback Jackson Arnold. At the same time, the Tigers just signed a quarterback in their recruiting class. Deuce Knight is a five-star quarterback who will challenge for the backup spot after a great high-school career. The Tigers could do something similar to two other programs: the Texas Longhorns and the Florida Gators. 

While the Longhorns are more ahead than either of the other two football programs, they both have had two quarterbacks for the last two years in Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning. While Ewers heads to the draft, Manning got to learn a lot under him and position himself to take over the reins of the Longhorns’ offense. Similarly at Florida, Graham Mertz passed on the reins to the true freshman D.J. Lagway. Mertz will be graduating so Lagway will be the new starter there. 

For the Tigers, it will be a similar situation between the two. Arnold will be a junior when puts on a jersey for the Tigers this upcoming season. Knight will be a freshman. Coach Freeze could look to play both quarterbacks to get experience for Knight who will undoubtedly be the future starter for the Tigers. That would be similar to the Gators stance. If they followed Texas’ stance, Knight might be sitting on the bench for a while. If they followed that stance, in this era of transfer portal “free agency”, Knight might not stay for long. 

On top of this, former Stanford quarterback Ashton Daniels is also headed to The Plains after the spring finishes. It adds to a dilemma that Coach Freeze will have to figure out once they reach that bridge.