Auburn Tigers News: QB enters transfer portal, DB opts-out of Music City Bowl

In today's edition of Auburn Tigers News, Robby Ashford has officially entered the NCAA transfer portal and DJ James has opted out of the bowl game

After two years with the Auburn Tigers, redshirt sophomore quarterback Robby Ashford has officially declared his intentions to enter the NCAA transfer portal and continue his career elsewhere. Ashford arrived ahead of the 2022 season from Oregon having never seen game action.

Ashford did not succeed in winning the quarterback battle against TJ Finley, but four games into the 2022 schedule Finley was injured and Ashford became the starter for the rest of the season. However, he failed to win the job a second time and took a backseat to Payton Thorne in 2023 during Hugh Freeze's first year on the Plains, and will likely be looking for a larger role somewhere else.

He finished his Auburn football career with 927 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns in addition to 1,758 passing yards, nine passing touchdowns, and nine interceptions.

DJ James will opt-out of the Music City Bowl

Auburn Tigers cornerback DJ James has opted-out of the upcoming Music City Bowl. The Tigers are set to take on the Maryland Terrapins in Nashville at the end of the month, and James is the first player to publicly opt-out of the game.

According to AL.com, James will be using the time to prepare for the 2024 NFL Draft. James will also be participating in the Reese's Senior Bowl in Mobile in February alongside fellow Tigers Nehemiah Pritchett and Jaylin Simpson.

James transferred to the Plains ahead of the 2022 season, and spent the last two years as a key piece of Auburn football's secondary. In his time with the Tigers, the cornerback logged 75 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, three interceptions, and 21 passes deflected.