Auburn football: 5 Tigers transfers that will be featured in 2022

Texas A&M-to-Auburn football transfer Zach Calzada

It’s been heavily implied by Heisman oddsmakers and now members of the Auburn beat that Zach Calzada will be the Tigers’ starter under center during the upcoming 2022 campaign. Seeing as though Calzada’s shoulder injury doesn’t seem to be slowing him down in the clips we’ve seen from him this summer working with Ray Isaac, a former FCS champion QB with Youngstown State in the 90s, the odds are great that the former Aggies signal-caller who beat Alabama in 2021 will be QB1 to start the season.

Bryan Harsin’s offense favors a more traditional pocket-passer, so the QB battle was always between Calzada and T.J. Finley given Holden Geriner’s inexperience at the Power Five level. The SEC success the former has experienced put him ahead of Finley once the 2021 LSU transfer showed similar struggles with accuracy on A-Day.

Barring something catastrophic happening during fall camp, including a re-aggravation to his non-throwing arm’s injury or a general inability to convince the coaching staff that he is the clear choice at quarterback, expect Calzada to be starting under center under the lights at Jordan-Hare Stadium September 3rd.

Oregon-to-Auburn football transfer Robby Ashford

Mario Cristobal’s exit from Oregon has been a blessing for Auburn football, as three players were brought back in the ‘Bo Nix trade.’ The most surprising player that could end up contributing from that group is Robby Ashford, who came into the QB battle this fall with no playing time accrued from his two years in Eugene.

Bryan Harsin recently suggested at 2022 SEC Media Days that he could have special packages for a QB other than the starter:

"“The thing about the quarterback position, too, is you may have other guys in there too that contribute. It’s not like I haven’t done that in the past, where you got another guy that also comes in and plays and is a part of it, maybe in a package and some other things.”"

AL.com’s Nubyjas Wilborn said that ‘Harsin could start Finley or Calzada with a package for Ashford, which could confuse opposing defenses,’ a statement certainly lends credence to the idea that multiple QBs can comprise the offense in 2022.