Auburn football: Zach Calzda put in same tier as Will Levis, DTR by PFF
Auburn football QB Zach Calzada was put in the same quarterback tier as Kentucky’s Will Levis, UCLA’s Dorian Thompson-Robinson, and Louisville’s Malik Cunningham by Pro Football Focus’ Seth Gazinaa.
my favorite P5 quarterbacks after watching every single one this offseason:
— Seth Galina (@pff_seth) June 22, 2022
bryce young
taulia tagovailoa
cj stroud
will rogers
tier 2: calzada, levis, DTR, rising, cunningham, williams, rattler
small sample but 📈: shapen, daniels (yes I swear a kansas qb is good) pic.twitter.com/yN4v6ThTQf
The former Texas A&M Aggie gunslinger finished up his lone season as the starter in College Station with 2,185 passing yards, 18 all-purpose touchdowns, and nine interceptions after taking over for Haynes King suffered a lower right leg injury in the first quarter vs. Colorado during the 2021 campaign’s second week.
While Calzada had his worst game of the season in a surprising Week 4 loss to Arkansas and amassed a season-low 135 passing yards a week later against Mississippi State’s second-rate defense, his year took off after the Week 6 win vs. Alabama.
Gazinaa used that as his reasoning for the tier 2 ranking:
Zach Calzada surprised me the most upon rewatch after watching a bit of him in season. Was one of the better qbs from the bama game on. Malik Cunningham has become a real ass quarterback which is fun. Caleb Williams best games came against bad defenses so beware of that
— Seth Galina (@pff_seth) June 22, 2022
Justin Ferguson of the Auburn Observer confirmed Calzada’s surprisingly productive post-Alabama performance:
did some quick math after seeing @pff_seth’s tweet about Zach Calzada and the numbers back it up pic.twitter.com/RaqPwsms4k
— Justin Ferguson (@JFergusonAU) June 22, 2022
Auburn football QB Zach Calzada is the all but confirmed Tigers’ QB1 in 2022
Zach Calzada has the best odds of any Auburn Tiger to win the 2022 Heisman Trophy according to various sportsbooks. That in and of itself all but confirms that T.J. Finley was beaten out for the starting job come September 3rd.
That said, Calzada will have Hoover product Robby Ashford aiming to usurp the TAMU transfer from the QB1 role.