Former Auburn football WR and 2021 third-round NFL draft pick Anthony Schwartz tore into disgraced ex-head coach Bryan Harsin and disgraced Tigers QB1 Payton Thorne after AU's 21-14 loss to Cal on September 7.
Schwartz directly blamed Harsin for the program being behind in recruiting.
"This is your fault bum (Bryan Harsin)," Schwartz tweeted.
"I’m not judging Hugh till Year 3, potato man dropped our standards into the gutter," Schwartz added.
As for Thorne, Schwartz called for Hugh Freeze to abandon Thorne as the team's starter and focus on developing Hank Brown, Holden Geriner, and/or Walker White with Deuce Knight potentially coming in 2025; pleading that there's no way AU missed on all four QBs in their room.
"Bench him I’m done," Schwartz said of Thorne during the game.
"Let Walker, Holden, and Hank battle it out while going all in on Deuce, no way you can go 0/4," he'd later add.
He even begged Cam Coleman to keep his head up with help on the way.
"KEEP YA HEAD UP (Cam Coleman), we’ll get you a QB," Schwartz proclaimed.
Schwartz defended his head coach, Gus Malzahn, for being fired before the Tigers went on an 18-23 run since his departure in 2020.
"They told us they were letting him go for not winning enough football games," Schwartz said.
Hugh Freeze must take accountability for his Auburn football program
Schwartz is right about Thorne needing to be done as the Tigers' starting quarterback. Every other option in the QB room deserves a chance to start over him based on what we just saw against the Golden Bears.
Where he is wrong is blaming Harsin for this team's lack of success still. Harsin isn't the one insisting on Thorne as Auburn's QB1. Harsin isn't the one fumbling the football in key spots.
Freeze needs to own the results on the field. And Tiger fans need to stop blaming every single failure on a coach who hasn't had the keys to the program since October 2022.