Hugh Freeze retooled the entire Auburn football QB room in the offseason. Hank Brown, Walker White, and Holden Geriner all hit the transfer portal and Payton Thorne ran out of eligibility. He replaced them with Oklahoma's starter, Jackson Arnold, Stanford's starter, Ashton Daniels, and 5-star Lucedale (MS) star Deuce Knight.
CBS Sports' Shehan Jeyarajah believes the Tigers have a good QB room, but has doubts if they have a starting-caliber QB.
"The Tigers don't have a surefire starting caliber player, but the sheer amount of on-field experience pushes them into the conversation. Arnold (Oklahoma) and Daniels (Stanford) were both starters last season at their respective programs. Arnold was a five-star recruit and the No. 1 player out of Texas when he chose the Sooners, while Daniels started for two seasons at Stanford. The pair combined for nearly 1,000 pass attempts over the past two seasons. Knight, a member of the Class of 2025, is a wildcard after coming to Auburn as the No. 56 player in the class. Auburn coach Hugh Freeze will have to move quickly after flipping the entire QB room, but the reps are there," Jeyarajah wrote.
Making matters worse? White, now with Baylor, was called the Bears' potential QB of the future. Plus, Baylor's QB room was ranked two spots higher on Jeyarajah's list.
"Behind him, White was a top-50 recruit who picked Auburn over Baylor during the recruiting process. After one year with the Tigers, he opted to transfer to Waco, giving Baylor a true quarterback of the future," Jeyarajah wrote.
White famously took what some took as a shot at Freeze and Auburn's coaching staff upon transferring in December.
"I can’t wait to meet my new teammates and get to work in Coach Spavital’s offense. I’m also excited that there’s a clear plan for quarterback development," White told ESPN's Pete Thamel.
Shot or not, Week 1 between AU and BU will have plenty of stakes.
Particularly narrative stakes.