There is a lot to like about what Byrum Brown brings to the table at the quarterback position. The former South Florida star marveled during his three-year run playing for Alex Golesh in Tampa. Now that he followed his coach to Auburn, the sky is the limit for what this dual-threat quarterback can do in the SEC. It should come as no surprise with how bullish ESPN's Bill Connelly is on Brown this year.
Look at where ESPN's analytics expert has Brown ranked among the best Power Four quarterbacks.
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback CJ Carr
- Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Julian Sayin
- Ole Miss Rebels quarterback Trinidad Chambliss
- Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning
- USC Trojans quarterback Jayden Maiava
- Oregon Ducks quarterback Dante Moore
- Oklahoma State Cowboys quarterback Drew Mestemaker
- Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Gunner Stockton
- Texas Tech Red Raiders quarterback Brendan Sorsby
- Auburn Tigers quarterback Byrum Brown
Connelly has Brown coming in at No. 10 heading into this season behind a slew of superstars. Brown finds himself within a stone's throw of two other transfer quarterbacks in Drew Mestemaker making the trek from North Texas to Oklahoma State and Brendan Sorsby going from Cincinnati to Texas Tech. He is also ranked ahead of Darian Mensah, Devon Dampier, Josh Hoover, and Sam Leavitt.
This bit from Connelly's excerpt about Brown is why we should be high on him this season as well.
"In three years with new Auburn head coach Alex Golesh at USF, Brown twice topped 3,000 passing yards and 1,000 non-sack rushing yards; in fact, the only other QB in the 2020s to top 3,100 and 1,100, respectively, was Jayden Daniels in his 2023 Heisman campaign. He both threw and rushed for more yards last year than John Mateer had before his move from Washington State to Oklahoma."
While the John Mateer comp is rather peculiar, it is interesting Brown outranks him by nine positions...
"I'm not going to tell you that means he's going to be part of a CFP push as Mateer was, but it's OK to set the bar pretty high here. He's really good, and he knows the offense."
If Brown is able to take his game to greater heights in Golesh's offense, Auburn could be dangerous.
Auburn's Byrum Brown cracks the top 10 of Bill Connelly's best P4 QBs
From an unbiased perspective, there is a ton to like about Brown kicking his game up a notch after coming to Auburn. As Connelly stated above, he knows the system like the back of his hand. Add in his inherent dual-threat playmaking abilities, and that could make Auburn harder to defend than in recent years. Its biggest issue under center has been having a prolific passer, in addition to a runner.
While all of Brown's starts have been at the Group of Six level, they still count... Furthermore, he is older, more experienced, and will be playing with better players at Auburn over what he had to work with in South Florida. Granted, there are so many players following Golesh to Auburn from Tampa anyway, but there will be a few key holdovers from the previous coaching regime still around as well.
Truth be told, Auburn really only has an outside chance at pushing for a playoff berth in the event that Brown plays at a Heisman contender level. We did see Cam Newton do that, win it, and win a national championship during his lone season down on The Plains. Granted, that was nearly two decades ago. What is important to know is Brown provided a spark on offense at USF that could reignite at Auburn.
For Connelly to be that high on him, it probably indicates Brown and Auburn will overachieve in 2026.