It didn’t take long for Ashton Daniels to win the starting quarterback position at Florida State. The Auburn transfer was named as such on Tuesday following the Seminoles’ spring practice, and the question now for Alex Golesh (and Hugh Freeze) is clear: was letting Daniels go and not playing him sooner last season a massive mistake?
For Freeze, he brought Jackson Arnold in from Oklahoma prior to the 2025 season, a critical one with his job status on the line, to try and fix the quarterback problem that Auburn had had for several years, including in his first two seasons on the Plains with Payton Thorne under center.
While Arnold’s debut with the Tigers was a success, throwing for 108 yards while rushing for 137 yards and two touchdowns in a win against Baylor, the offense fizzled under his watch, struggling massively as Auburn went on a four-game losing streak. With a fifth-straight loss on the line at Arkansas, Freeze felt it was time to give Daniels a shot, and it paid off as Auburn came back to beat the Razorbacks, but that was all smoke and mirrors as the defense forced three fourth-quarter turnovers to provide the victory.
After Freeze was fired, Daniels’ play stepped up in production, throwing for 353 yards and two touchdowns in an overtime loss at Vanderbilt, and throwing for 259 yards and a touchdown with an interception against Alabama.
Will Alex Golesh regret letting Ashton Daniels go?
When Golesh was hired, everyone automatically assumed he would bring in Byrum Brown, his starting quarterback at USF. When that happened, Daniels likely saw his path toward being the starting signal-caller at Auburn as closed, but after this spring, it seems that Auburn and Golesh might have made a huge mistake.
Brown struggled in Auburn’s spring game so much that Tristan T’ia, a transfer from Oregon State, was highlighted as one of the positives out of the scrimmage. While all signs point toward Brown still being the starter for the Tigers when they take the field against Baylor in Mercedes-Benz Stadium to start the season, one has to question whether Daniels would have given Brown a major run for his money when it comes to who wins the quarterback position.
If Daniels shines in Tallahassee while Brown and Auburn’s offense struggles, there might be some angry fans on the Plains.
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