There was a significant loss in the Auburn football QB room on Wednesday afternoon. Class of 2020 4-star signing Dematrius Davis, a Gus Malzahn recruit that committed anyway after the former AU coach’s ouster, took to the transfer portal in hopes of finding a program to take a chance on him because they believe in him…something he clearly must not have felt Bryan Harsin did.
Davis had the potential to be great based on past achievement in the heat of Lone Star State Class 6A high school football, but the chance never came on the Plains for him to be great. He maintained his redshirt his entire freshman season, getting zero snaps despite calls for such during the buildup to the Birmingham Bowl.
The QB battle has shrunk to four true contenders – with freshman Holden Geriner truly holding an outside chance of sneaking into snaps during his first season with the program.
Auburn football QB depth chart
- QB1: T.J. Finley
- QB2: Zach Calzada
- QB3: Robby Ashford
- QB4: Holden Geriner
T.J. Finley has been taking first-team snaps and was given full control of the offense during the 2021 season after Bo Nix went down. He is the favorite to be under center this fall, but mainly because of an injury to his main competition.
Zach Calzada could well return and outperform Finley ahead of the fall in time enough to steal the starting job. As for the other junior transfer in the QB room, Robby Ashford’s style of play isn’t as much of a glove fit for Harsin’s system, but don’t rule the former Hoover hero out.
Calzada and Ashford both joined the program thinking Austin Davis would be the offensive coordinator working with them directly. Things are not how they seemed, but that doesn’t preclude either from taking over should Finley fail to convince the coaching staff he is QB1 material in his second year in Auburn.