Headline QB who just hit transfer portal fits Auburn football HC Hugh Freeze’s desired profile

Casey Thompson, who just entered the transfer portal following a season at Nebraska, fits the profile that Auburn football head coach Hugh Freeze looks for in a quarterback — this, at least, according to Auburn Daily’s Zac Blackerby.

“Auburn has been in the market for a quarterback,” Blackerby prefaced before saying, “Thompson’s experience, athleticism, and poise he could bring to an offense are all things Hugh Freeze has mentioned that he is looking for in a quarterback.”

Blackerby revealed his source’s intel that Thompson already has Auburn football in his Top 3 potential destinations.

“A source close to the situation believes that there are six schools that Thompson is interested in as his final destination during his college career,” Blackerby shared. “The source then added that Auburn is in the top three. ‘I know he won’t be in the portal long.'”

Casey Thompson must embrace competition upon an Auburn football transfer

Freeze has already drawn a line in the sand when it comes to transfer portal quarterbacks — sharing that he wouldn’t hand the starting job to anyone and that said portal addition would need to earn it.

“We might could have had one or two in the last portal had I told them certain words they wanted to hear,” Freeze said to the Associated Press’ John Zenor. “Like they’re the guy and all that. But I’m just not made that way. We absolutely are going to look at every scenario that becomes an option. We’ll go down and look at, is that best for this program. And that’s ultimately what we have to do, is what’s best for the program.”

Thompson had 2,407 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions for Nebraska in 2022. Whether that’s an upgrade over Ashford, who had 2,323 all-purpose yards, 14 all-purpose touchdowns, and seven interceptions is unclear since both signal-callers were behind sub-par offensive lines.

Regardless, a competition would need to be something Thompson is comfortable with if he were to join Freeze’s first Tigers team.