ESPN ranks Auburn QB room in top half of all 133 college football QB 'situations'
Auburn landed a commitment from Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne just a couple of short weeks ago, and since then the Tigers have begun to make their way into the national conversation more.
CBS Sports listed Hugh Freeze and the Tigers as a College Football Playoff darkhorse. Another outlet said Thorne was the second-best QB pickup in the SEC. With the latest transfer portal pickup of North Texas wide receiver Jyaire Shorter, there's reason to believe that Auburn could be in legitimate contention for the SEC west if all goes right.
That is, if all goes right.
Auburn's quarterback situation has been less than stable for several seasons now. Robby Ashford performed average for a freshman QB operating an offense for one of if not the worst team in modern program history last year. TJ Finley transferred out. With a better offensive line, more weapons, a deep running back room, and competent playcallers in Hugh Freeze and Philip Montgomery, the Tigers should right the ship in the fall.
ESPN believes that Auburn has one of the better QB "situations" heading into the fall. Writer David Hale recently released a ranking of all 133 FBS QB situations into tiers, with the duo of Robby Ashford and Payton Thorne falling in tier seven out of 20. Tier seven was categorized as the "fresh start offers cause for optimism" tier. ESPN's only comments about either quarterback in the section were from an anonymous Big Ten defensive coordinator on Thorne.
"It's a whole different offense, and I don't know what they have around him for what they're going to be doing," the DC said. "But I think he's going to check a lot of boxes for what you'd want of a transfer in Year 1 at a program."
The tier seven ranking is 11th best in the SEC on Hale's list, including two tiers underneath Florida's Graham Mertz.
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