Hugh Freeze implies Auburn football QB battle is wide open again

This past weekend, the Auburn football offense displayed a terrible performance in their late night matchup against the Cal Golden Bears on the West Coast. Though they were able to pull off a 14-10 victory, the defense was the engine running the team for most of the game.

Throughout the offseason, one of the biggest storylines for Auburn football revolved around the quarterback competition. The coaching staff were unable to pull a transfer during the early window, so former Michigan State QB Payton Thorne arrived after spring training was finished.

The battle was waged between Thorne, returning starter Robby Ashford, and redshirt freshman Holden Geriner. Many believed from the start that Thorne would end up with the starting role, especially because he was the QB handpicked by Coach Freeze. However, it was a battle all the way up until Thorne was announced QB1 during fall camp.

All along, Freeze insisted that Ashford was an important member of the Tigers’ offense, and that the team needs him to win games. The head coach is maintaining the importance of Ashford, but he still isn’t quite sure what the ideal quarterback rotation will look like this season, especially after the struggles against Cal.

According to AL.com, Freeze is still hopeful that Thorne will pick things up and improve as the Tigers’ QB1, but both Ashford and Geriner are still competitors:

"“Hopefully he’ll [Payton Thorne] start taking hold of that and showing that and improving that,” Freeze said. “But at the same time, Holden (Geriner) and Robby are sure nipping at his heels wanting their chance too. I think these next few weeks will play out and we’ll kinda know where we are for sure.”"

Hopefully Freeze and his staff will figure out where they are sooner rather than later, especially with SEC play being right around the corner.