Auburn football: SDS pitches JT Daniels as Bryan Harsin’s ace in the hole

Auburn football head coach Bryan Harsin’s way to win the good grace of Tiger fans the world over is to…

Corral JT Daniels from the transfer portal?

That’s what Saturday Down South’s Connor O’Gara pitched in his latest piece discussing how Harsin should respond to the firestorm of controversy that has created a black cloud hovering over the Plains for the last few weeks.

Auburn football will keep their leading locker-room voice, but O’Gara thinks that landing the Georgia transfer QB is the perfect way to galvanize a fanbase that is losing hope for the program’s immediate prospects:

"What’s the biggest thing Harsin needs to figure out? The offense. Lost in the shuffle of his week in limbo was the fact that he lost offensive coordinator Austin Davis after 6 weeks on the job. But even beyond that, Harsin has something else to figure out — the quarterback situation.JT Daniels would solve that problem.If Harsin wants to pin his future on Ashford, Finley or Calzada, that’s on him. But if he dips back into the transfer portal and signs 1 more quarterback who lost his job as an SEC starter, it could be the thing that saves his job."

Is Daniels a necessity or just a luxury at this point for Harsin and co. though?

Auburn football HC Bryan Harsin needs to focus on holes that JT Daniels can’t fill

The idea is an intriguing one, but the QB position doesn’t need another competitor for the starting job. If a shoe-in QB1 was out there? Sign us up.

But Daniels is not a clear enough upgrade over the likes of Zach Calzada and Robby Ashford to realistically put too much stock into at this point. Adding Daniels can only upset the current QB room while also setting the team up for modest success. The short-term gains don’t outweigh the potential long-term ramifications.

Harsin and co. need to focus on a WR core that has been ravaged by the transfer portal and an OL that hasn’t been a strength for this program in over a decade.