Takeo Spikes: Auburn's quarterback battle looking 'wide open' heading into fall camp

Could Robby Ashford end up winning the job in fall camp?

Lance Dawe | Jul 19, 2023

Takeo Spikes: Auburn's quarterback battle looking 'wide open' heading into fall camp /

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Auburn Tigers

It seems that the longer SEC Media Days has gone on, the more people have begun to talk about Auburn quarterback Robby Ashford.

Ashford is projected to be the backup quarterback to Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne this fall, but some media members are beginning to sing a different tune, praising Ashford for his upside and athleticism.

Could there be an upset brewing in the Tigers' quarterback competition?

SEC Network's Takeo Spikes joined Zac Blackerby on the Locked On Auburn podcast to discuss Hugh Freeze and the Tigers heading into fall camp.

Spikes was asked about what his biggest takeaway from Auburn's time at media days was.

"I was surprised and excited to hear Hugh come out and say out of all of the athletes that he's ever coached, that Robby Ashford was the best athlete that he's ever seen," Spikes said. "And so with that being said, I had to uncover a little bit on that. And so for me, it just tells me that he's more than capable of getting the job done, even though he only completed 50% of his passes last year. And I throw out last year because Robby is raw. And so now we all know Hugh as not only as the quarterback whisperer, but as a player developer. And that's something that we have not had at Auburn at least going back five to seven years. So I'm excited to see not only what he's going to do in that quarterback room, but overall with the entire roster by bringing in different guys."

Ashford spent his first two seasons at Oregon, where he did not see the field. He transferred in to Auburn in 2022 and earned the backup role to TJ Finley to begin the season. He essentially split time with Finley on the field through the first two weeks.

Following Finley's injury in week three vs Penn State, Ashford took over the starting role and never relinquished it - completing only 49.2% of his passes on the season but showing serious promise as a dual-threat - churning out over 700 rushing yards and solidifying himself as the best option in Auburn's quarterback room heading into 2023.

Hugh Freeze, known to develop quarterbacks well, should be able to elevate Ashford's passing game. If the Tigers decide to ride with him as starter, and Freeze is able to round him out as a true quarterback, he could be a serious problem in the SEC next season.

The athleticism is more than there. Polishing up his mechanics is the next step.

Dari Nowkhah also joined Blackerby on his podcast and said that he was "not as sold" on Payton Thorne winning the job over Ashford this fall.

Blackerby asked Spikes about the competition, saying that it feels pretty wide open heading into camp.

"Oh yeah. No, no, it definitely is open," Spikes said. "But at the end of the day, you don't go out and get Payton Thorne from Michigan State if you're solidified at the quarterback position. So, you know, the big thing that I really love is that he's bringing in competition to be able to make guys focus at a higher level that they thought they never could attain. What it's also going to do is bring out the better play in other guys. Like he went and got a bunch of transfers at wide receiver. We don't know how good the wide receivers are because that's predicated on another man getting him the ball. So that's what I'm talking about. It breeds competition across the room."

SEC Media Days is being hosted this year in Nashville, Tennessee for the very first time.

Auburn Daily is here covering Media Days all week long. You can catch updates, quotes, predictions and more here on auburndaily.com.