Auburn football is back, everyone, and it wouldn’t be truly back if there weren’t unanswered questions heading into the next game. Although head coach Bryan Harsin named TJ Finley as the starter the week prior to Game One, he did not end the quarterback competition.
Early on it was known that Oregon transfer Robby Ashford would be part of the game plan against Mercer, and Ashford showed out during his time on the field. While Finley had some good moments, he also had some extremely terrible moments and threw two interceptions.
But, based on two interceptions, a great showing from Robby Ashford, and just one game, has Finley lost the QB1 spot? Not yet. And if there are two quarterbacks actively competing for the job, does this create drama in the locker room? Auburn football tight end and team captain John Samuel Shenker shared his opinion on the matter, via Auburn Live:
"“I wouldn’t say there’s a controversy. I think we knew going in that it wasn’t set in stone that T.J. would be the only guy getting reps. We knew Robby was in the game plan,” Shenker said. “For most of this year, from my standpoint, it’s probably going to be whoever has the hot hand and what causes issues for the defense. It’s going to come down to what gives us the best chance to win the football game. If the guys can buy into that, we’ll be in good shape.”"
After the matchup on Saturday, both Ashford and Finley insisted that they are focused on doing whatever will set the team up for success, and if the pair can work together it does set up a path to Harsin running a two-quarterback system for the rest of the season.
It’s still likely too early to know anything for sure, but with Penn State on the horizon, it’s of utmost importance that Harsin and the team get the quarterback game plan ironed out. From the words of Shenker, Finley, and Ashford, it seems apparent that there is no bad blood and everyone on the team truly wants to win this season.