Auburn football: SDS explains how Zach Calzada could make Jimbo Fisher look bad in 2022
Saturday Down South’s Connor O’Gara believes Auburn football QB Zach Calzada has the opportunity to give the media plenty of narrative rope regarding both his current and former head coach in 2022.
To O’Gara, strong play from the Texas A&M-turned-Tigers transfer could speak extremely positively to Bryan Harsin’s ability to develop a quarterback, while also saying less-than-satisfactory things about Aggies HC Jimbo Fisher.
O’Gara referenced Jameis Winston being the last time Fisher had a top-30 passing game, the last time Fisher had a quarterback earn all-conference honors, and the last time that Fisher had a quarterback finish in the top 25 nationally in quarterback rating as evidence for why Calzada could prove that Jimbo may actually be the problem. He also condemned Fisher for not adjusting schematically when Calzada replaced Haynes King as the starter.
Simply put, the SDS writer sees Calzada as a bellwether for the jobs Harsin and Fisher do with quarterbacks:
"“If Calzada somehow does take that giant leap forward away from A&M, after missing a good amount of spring ball with his new team because of a shoulder injury, that’d be a tough look for Fisher. It’d also be a sign to Auburn brass that Harsin may know his way around an offense after all.”"
How Auburn football could maximize Zach Calzada in 2022
It’s looking increasingly like Zach Calzada will be Auburn football QB1 every passing week as we hear and see less about how T.J. Finley’s offseason has been going. Calzada has the second best Heisman odds of any Tiger behind Tank Bigsby, so unless Heisman voters are valuing off-the-field contributions more these days, the Texas A&M transfer will more than likely be the starter this September.
The best way to maximize Calzada on the field this coming fall will actually be to keep him off of it more so than you’d expect for a starter. In order to keep defenses honest, Bryan Harsin and co. need to make good on the talk of deploying multiple QBs with packages designed for a non-starter.
A healthy mix of Calzada and, to a lesser extent, Robby Ashford, could be the best use of everyone in the Tigers QB room.