Hugh Freeze has done an excellent job navigating the transfer portal and has dominated on the recruiting trail during his first two years at Auburn, but he hasn’t gotten the quarterback position right. Now, heading into Year 3 with Oklahoma transfer Jackson Arnold slated as his starter and true freshman Deuce Knight breathing down his neck, Freeze could be further complicating things with the rumored addition of Troy transfer Matthew Caldwell.
Caldwell is a graduate of Auburn High, and after spending four years at three different programs, the rising redshirt senior is looking to return home to use his final season of eligibility with the Tigers. Despite Freeze’s crowded QB room, ON3.com has logged a prediction for the grad transfer to join Auburn. While he likely won’t battle for starting reps in the SEC, his arrival could stir up the backup QB battle behind Arnold.
Troy grad transfer Matthew Caldwell predicted to join Auburn Tigers for 2025
Sports editor of the Troy Messenger, Josh Boutwell, boosted the report as Caldwell is the second quarterback to depart the program this offseason. Caldwell emerged as Troy’s starter after Goose Caldwell went out for the season with an injury. Caldwell finished the year with 1,608 passing yards and 13 touchdowns to eight interceptions. The 6-foot-4, 212-pound QB also ran for five scores.
Caldwell’s best performance of the season came against Georgia Southern, a 28-20 win in which he completed over 80 percent of his passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 13 yards and two touchdowns on 12 attempts. In that outing, Caldwell connected with Troy star receiver Devonte Ross 10 times for 95 yards and a score. Ross has since transferred to Penn State, where he will use his final season of eligibility.
With Arnold sitting out, Deuce Knight impressed in the Auburn Spring Game and may have put some pressure on the presumed starter. While the 6-foot-4 freshman still has plenty of developing to do, he could be the most exciting young passer on Auburn’s roster, even more so than Arnold, a former five-star. Yet, Freeze could be enticed by Caldwell’s wealth of experience, something that attracted him to Payton Thorne, a multi-year Big Ten starter before his two underwhelming seasons with the Tigers.
If Caldwell does return home for his final year, he may never see the field. Auburn could use a fourth quarterback on the roster, but if Freeze does add him to the roster as an impediment to Knight’s growth as QB2, then that’s a big mistake.
The pressure is on Freeze to finally get it right at quarterback, and while having more darts to throw at the board sounds nice in theory, it may not go over as smoothly in a crowded QB room.