Last weekend against Kentucky, the Auburn Tigers' offense put on its worst performance of the season. Ashton Daniels started the game, but was benched for Jackson Arnold late in the second half only to return to the field before the end of the contest.
With Hugh Freeze out, interim head coach DJ Durkin said on Monday that Derrick Nix would be the Tigers' sole play caller and that they were evaluating everything in the quarterback decision ahead of the Vanderbilt game. On Wednesday, Durkin named Daniels as the Tigers' QB1.
"I got involved with it this week and, really, just took opinions of the guys on offense," Durkin said of rolling with Daniels at QB, per Auburn Undercover. "It was a lot that went into it, but ultimately, we feel real good about it. He's had a great week of preparation. He's ready to go."
Daniels got his first start against Kentucky and went 13-28 passing for 108 yards. His final pass, a Hail Mary throw to the end zone, was intercepted.
While Durkin maintains that he is not an offensive guy, he believes he and the staff will be able to put the offense in a position to succeed, and they have placed a strong emphasis on team unity this week at practice.
"I'm not an offensive play caller, but certainly from the perspective of defense — they're doing this, and we can get them here," Durkin said. "Those conversations will certainly take place. We're all in it together, bound together, so whatever we can do to help, we certainly will."
The Tigers and the Commodores will kick off from Nashville tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.