Ashton Daniels came to the Plains competing for a chance to start with Jackson Arnold during the 2025 season, with Deuce Knight sitting behind them both. Daniels got action when it was too late to make something out of the season, but he was better than Arnold.
Better enough to keep the Tigers close in a 45-38 overtime loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores and their Heisman candidate quarterback, Diego Pavia, and mount a comeback that fell short in the team's 27-20 Iron Bowl loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide. Better enough to overtake Arnold and knock off the Arkansas Razorbacks 33-24 on the road.
Not better enough to score more than three points against the Kentucky Wildcats in Hugh Freeze's last game as Auburn's head football coach, though. Hence, Saturday Down South's Connor O'Gara gave Daniels' 2025 campaign a "C" grade.
"Daniels is a tough grade because on one hand, the season was essentially lost by the time he came in for Arnold in the Arkansas game. He did lead a comeback victory there, and his legs were a huge reason why Auburn had chances to pull off upsets against 10-win teams like Vanderbilt and Alabama. But it’s hard to get past the Kentucky loss, which was ultimately the final straw for Freeze. Daniels couldn’t do anything in a favorable home matchup against a 5-win UK squad. The Stanford transfer was at least willing to cut it loose in ways that Arnold didn’t (he at least force-fed Coleman targets)," O'Gara wrote.
Ashton Daniels deemed incapable of leading Alex Golesh's offense
As O'Gara noted, Daniels had the chance to impress incoming head coach Alex Golesh -- and really anyone the Tigers could've hired before settling on the USF Bulls' headman -- at the end of the 2025 season once Derrick Nix took over the play-calling.
Unfortunately, Daniels didn't, and now Nix is in Tuscaloosa as Daniels awaits his future.
"If he had been an obvious success, Alex Golesh could’ve built his Year 1 offense around him. Instead, Daniels’ decision to sit the Mercer game and remain under the 4-game threshold means he’ll take his final year of eligibility elsewhere," O'Gara wrote.
Daniels' options in the portal include a potential return to the Stanford Cardinal, the Baylor Bears, the Kentucky Wildcats, and the Florida State Seminoles, among others.