Auburn can eye ex-Heisman candidate in transfer portal this offseason

The Auburn football program could have its eyes on Wazzu quarterback Cameron Ward during the upcoming offseason should the West Columbia, Texas product take to the transfer portal with one season of eligibility left due to the 2020 COVID-19-stricken season. Ward, whose Cougars dropped four straight games in October, has thrown 15 touchdown passes and just three interceptions through his first eight appearances during the 2023 season in Pullman, Washington.

While ranked as high as No. 13 after a win over fellow Pac-2 school Oregon State, Wazzu fell off as the calendar turned from September (and Green Day was woken up) into October; dropping three of four games during the month by double-digits.

With no clear future in the Power Five, Wazzu is losing the pull of playing premier programs like Oregon, USC, UCLA, and Utah essentially every year. Ward would have good reason to ditch the Pac-2/Mountain West conglomerate the Cougs will take part in and find a new home in one of the other expanding P5 conferences. Conversely, AU would have every reason to pursue a difference-maker like Ward — since even if Week 9 hero Payton Thorne exercises his final year of eligibility, the quarterback position could still use a player with a Heisman ceiling. Like every other school in the nation.

Auburn football could hold off on handing the offense over to Walker White

Before Thorne’s first 200-plus yard game against Power Five competition on October 28 against Mississippi State in a 27-13 victory, there was plenty of pressure on Walker White to step into the mix in 2024 and take over the reins of the offense.

That pressure returns if Thorne’s struggles return and the Auburn family doesn’t get an extended look at Robby Ashford and/or Holden Geriner. It goes away in an instant again if Ward arrives to run the show for a year before White takes over upon mastering the playbook.

Ward is a Hugh Freeze kind of QB. The union makes too much sense, with #WardEagle already built in as a celebratory slogan.

Look out for the Wazzu star and the Plains to be connected in rumors this offseason if/when Ward wants more than whatever the Pac-2 does next.