It’s hard to believe, but the last time Auburn felt comfortable, and I mean extremely comfortable, at the quarterback position was when Gus Malzahn was still in charge, and Bo Nix was behind center.
If you want to go down the names since Nix departed for Oregon and went on to become the quarterback for the No. 1 seed in the AFC in this year’s playoffs, we can, but I must warn you, it isn’t pretty: T.J Finley, somehow looking for his seventh year and sixth program, Robby Ashford, Holden Geriner, Payton Thorne, Hank Brown, Walker White, Jackson Arnold and Ashton Daniels.
If there’s a picture next to the word consistency, those eight players aren’t exactly going to be apt to be in it.
Now, with a new tenure with the arrival of Alex Golesh and him bringing his quarterback, Byrum Brown, from USF to the Plains, there’s the hope that the Tigers can finally, after all these years, see consistency from the quarterback position.
The addition of Brown brings an excitement to the position that wasn’t exactly there when Thorne and Arnold were added, although there was a belief that one of them would eventually be the answer for Hugh Freeze, who had had success with signal-callers in the past. If you have watched the highlight reels of the new Auburn quarterback – and there’s absolutely no reason to believe he isn’t the starter from the moment his signature was secured – you see a player who can do it both through the air and on the ground. And yes, while Brown would have benefited had some of Auburn’s top receivers from last season stayed, there’s no reason that he can’t utilize the guys that are left and those that are coming in, especially those who have arrived from USF who already have a rapport with him.
A crucial signing by Alex Golesh to start his Auburn tenure
It was imperative that Golesh sign a big-time quarterback, especially in the wake of former 5-star Deuce Knight entering the transfer portal. With Brown, he has someone he can trust, who has been through the battles with him and, more importantly, he likes. We couldn’t always say that about the head coach and quarterbacks over the past few seasons.
As Justin Ferguson of The Observer points out, this will be the first Auburn quarterback to have the same offensive coordinator for two consecutive years since Jarrett Stidham and Chip Lindsay in 2018.
While there is still the factor of Brown raising his game from an American Conference schedule to that of an SEC slate, and that Auburn still needs to fill out its offensive line to protect him, there’s finally optimism about what the Tigers have at the quarterback position.
Fill the pieces around him, and Brown might be able to lead Auburn to a special season.