When former head coach Hugh Freeze and his staff recruited Ashton Daniels to the Plains from Stanford, he was never expected to be the Auburn Tigers' QB1. He arrived on campus much later than Jackson Arnold and Deuce Knight, and the plan was to preserve his redshirt so he would be elligible next season.
In reality, things did not go to plan for the Tigers. With two games left to play, Freeze has been fired, DJ Durkin is serving as the interim head coach, and Arnold has been unceremoniously benched for Daniels. Still, Daniels 'services became necessary with five games left on the schedule, and he can only play in four of them if he intends to return next year.
The decision about who would play at the quarterback position has been up in the air for a little while due to multiple factors, but in his press conference on Monday afternoon, Durkin announced that the Tigers have planned to preserve Daniels' redshirt. He cited a responsibility to do what is best for the football team as a whole, but also what is best for each individual player based on their circumstances.
"I think the best thing for Ashton is to be able to preserve his redshirt year and be able to come back and play another year," Durkin said. "He has great football ahead of him.
Durkin went on to say that there would be no real "starter" heading into this weekend's matchup against Mercer, but both Arnold and true freshman Deuce Knight will get reps.
"Both those guys are going to play in the game, Jackson and Deuce," Durkin said. "We're going to go through the practice week and sort out what exactly that looks like, but I met with them both yesterday and they are both tremendously excited about this."
The Tigers will face off against Mercer this Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in Jordan-Hare Stadium.