After a season like Auburn football had in 2021, many people across the organization took heat for it. Bryan Harsin caught the most flak and was almost cast off the Plains entirely, and the coaching staff’s handling of certain players led to an exodus of talented, but underperforming and likely underutilized Tigers.
AU fell apart down the stretch in the most brutal way imaginable after closely trailing Alabama in the SEC West at the beginning of November. Come-from-behind losses to Mississippi State and South Carolina in consecutive weeks set the stage for heartbreak in both the Iron Bowl and the Birmingham Bowl.
By last season’s end, what 2022 was going to look like became a mystery. Whatever was going to happen this upcoming fall, it couldn’t resemble the 2021 formula that led to those results.
Of course, bad feelings resulted from said failures, and departures via the transfer portal became commonplace.
These 3 particular transfers, though, have the best chance of making Auburn football look bad in 2022:
Transfer #1 that could make Auburn football look bad in 2022: QB Dematrius Davis
The most recent entry (well, second-most recently before Ro Torrence) into the transfer portal Dematrius Davis, was brimming with potential.
His high school numbers were video game-like, per former Opelika Auburn News’ writer Jordan D. Hill:
"Davis placed his name among the best quarterbacks in Texas high school football history by piling up 13,583 total yards of offense — 10,536 through the air and 3,047 on the ground — and 171 touchdowns over a four-year run that saw North Shore capture state titles in 2018 and 2019 and Davis post a 51-3 record as a starting quarterback."
Despite getting second-team reps, Davis wanted out and now finds himself in search of a school that believes in him as a top option. The word is that his style of play isn’t what Harsin is looking for out of the leader of the offense.
If he finds a school that can grant him immediate minutes, we’re talking about someone with a chip on their shoulder and the skills to back up a major redemption campaign.
Transfer #2 that could make Auburn football look bad in 2022: WR Kobe Hudson, UCF
Kobe Hudson couldn’t be happier to be back with the coach that originally recruited him to the Plains, Gus Malzahn. Hudson went as far as to say that he’d return to Auburn if Malzahn was reinstalled as the Tigers HC.
That’s how far the dissonance ran between Hudson and Bryan Harsin, who the WR claimed didn’t understand his southern self with the head coaching being a man from the Pacific Northwest.
Hudson’s second stop with UCF could be where he breaks out even further as a star wideout, with the chance he falters being a possibility as well in this most unpredictable sport.
Mikey Keene ended up leading the Knights to a 7-3 record as the starter in 2021, and finished with 17 touchdowns and six interceptions cumulatively for the year in the AAC and against Florida in the Gasparilla Bowl.
His continued improvement could coincide with Hudson’s own shoulder chip and create beautiful gridiron symmetry. Maybe he gets injured, as the position seems snake-bitten given recent the history of McKenzie Milton and Dillon Gabriel, and Joey Gatewood’s own resurrection (which we’re far less sure about) is the impetus for a national breakout for Hudson.
Either way, look for a motivated man in Orlando, Florida that’s back with a coach he reveres to make an attempt to spite his former boss with his best play yet.
Transfer #3 that could make Auburn football look bad in 2022: QB Bo Nix, Oregon
We’ve mentioned the proverbial chip on the shoulder a few times now, and it feels very inappropriate not to start the Bo Nix conversation that way. So we won’t.
Let’s pull up some chairs and talk about ‘Dark Horses’ for a second, shall we folks?
The famed 2021 A-Day meme is starting to make the rounds again with footage of Nix in an Oregon uniform making the rounds from spring camp:
I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a dark horse for the heisman. https://t.co/COuKnB0p3H
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) March 24, 2022
This is the year. Bo Nix has improved so much under this new offense. He's focused. He's having fun. I wouldn't be surprised if he's a dark horse for the Heisman.
— Pablo Escobarner (blue chek) (@PabloEscoburner) March 24, 2022
Ohhh we’ve still got memes for this pic.twitter.com/OBDmy3GGiF
— Auburn Memes (@AuburnMemes) March 24, 2022
Frankly, very few will be as motivated to prove doubters wrong as Nix is. Making the jump from the SEC to the Pac-12, Nix has to shut up Pacific Coast purists that doubt the Auburn legacy signal-caller’s chances of heading west and winning.
If he does, joining the fans that never wanted to see him start or succeed on the Plains to begin with, the Auburn football program will look quite bad for not making sure things were good enough for the former 5-star signal-caller.