Auburn Names Backup QB, What's that Mean for Walker White and 2025?

The Auburn Tigers have named a backup quarterback for the first game of the season. What does that do for the Tigers' outlook in next year?

Auburn Tigers redshirt freshman quarterback Hank Brown has been named backup to open the season. / Photo by Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers

The future at Auburn quarterback gained new perspective on Monday night as Hugh Freeze announced that redshirt freshman Hank Brown would be the backup heading into the season.

What does that mean for the future including highly-touted freshman Walker White? Possibly, and maybe even likely that Brown will have a chance to be a multi-year starter.

There’s no question that senior Payton Thorne has locked down the starting position as Auburn opens the season in less than two weeks versus Alabama A&M. It would take poor play or an injury for Auburn to move on to the next in line, which Brown earned throughout August camp.

Auburn has two other scholarship quarterbacks on the roster, and as of Monday night zero QB commits for the 2025 class. Third-year sophomore Holden Geriner was the backup to Thorne last season, not to be confused with the package of plays for Robby Ashford designed to take advantage of his running talents.

Geriner, entering his third football season at Auburn, was passed up by a player at his position who’s a classification younger. It’s premature and purely conjecture to suggest Geriner will eventually transfer, but in the day and age of the transfer portal he’ll likely be faced with a decision at some point.

The other QB on campus is White, a true freshman who was ranked by 247 Sports and ESPN as a top-5 quarterback prospect coming out of Little Rock Christian Academy last fall. As far as what Monday’s announcement means for White – it just means that it’s not his time yet, which isn’t surprising given that he’s a true freshman.

“Walker is going to be really talented too. I think can both play,” Freeze said of White and Geriner. Geriner is perhaps the best athlete of the QBs and has the best arm on the team, but that wasn’t enough to hold off Brown.

“When you grade all of the reps he’s been really, really good throwing the ball in camp,” Freeze said of Brown on Tiger Talk. “He’s thrown some really good balls, and (he has) a strong arm.”

From a recruiting standpoint Auburn has focused its efforts mainly on three prospects, and it’s looking more and more each day that their guy at quarterback in this class is going to be Deuce Knight from George County (Lucedale, Miss.) High School. Knight is a top-5 quarterback prospect across every-major recruiting service including No. 2 on ESPN and Rivals.

Knight will be in Auburn on Aug. 31 for yet another visit, according to Steve Wiltfong of On3.com. Knight has been committed to Notre Dame for almost a year, but a flip from the Irish to the Tigers seems imminent.

Odds are going into the season that Thorne is going to get a high majority of the in-game reps. If that’s the case, the 2025 quarterback race would be among several quarterbacks with very little experience. Brown will be a redshirt sophomore, White will likely be a redshirt freshman. If Knight does indeed sign with Auburn in December or February, it would be highly unlikely that Freeze would take a quarterback out of the transfer portal.

Brown’s only collegiate playing experience came in Auburn’s 31-13 Music City Bowl loss to Maryland last Dec. 30 in Nashville. Auburn’s offense struggled all day versus the Terrapins, minus the 4th quarter when Brown was inserted behind center after the game was all but decided. Brown went 7 of 9 for 132 yards. Auburn scored a touchdown on Brown’s first possession following a 53-yard toss downfield to Caleb Burton. On his second possession he moved the offense downfield only to stall in the red zone.

At 6-4 208, Brown stood tall in the pocket, exhibited good pocket presence and a strong arm. Sure, it was mop-up time, but Brown’s two drives were better than any two of Thorne’s drives all day. It’s worth mentioning that Geriner was 1 of 6 for 8 yards and a pick versus Maryland before Brown was given a shot.

Geriner has played in six games the last two seasons, mostly in difficult situations, but he’s yet to have a standout performance.

It’s looking more and more like the 2025 quarterback race is going to be between Brown, White, and Knight. And Brown winning the backup job this August gives him a huge lift at becoming the starter next year as a third-year sophomore.

Brown played at Lipscomb Academy in Nashville, Tenn., under current UAB coach Trent Dilfer, who is one of 34 people that can say they are a Super Bowl winning starting quarterback.

With Freeze and staff gaining commitments from highly-rated 4-star and 5-star prospects here lately, there’s a bit of irony in Brown stepping and earning the backup job as a redshirt freshman. According to all of the recruiting services, Brown was one of Auburn’s least talented prospects in a mediocre 2023 signing class as a 3-star. Brown was committed to Freeze at Liberty, and when Freeze took the Auburn job, Brown was extended a scholarship offer to Auburn.

Freeze didn’t comment on who the third string QB will be between Geriner and White. Scout team assignments will be handed out within the next several days as Auburn transitions into game-week routine on Sunday.