Former Auburn QB TJ Finley may face familiar issues at Texas State

Is Finley going to have to fight again for the starting QB spot at his third school?

Lance Dawe | May 14, 2023

Former Auburn QB TJ Finley may face familiar issues at Texas State /

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TJ Finley has had to battle it out for the starting quarterback spot at every school he's been to.

At LSU, Finley was a backup that got his chance to shine in 2020 when Myles Brennan went down with an injury. At Auburn, Finley battled Bo Nix for QB1, lost the race and took over late season in 2021 after Nix suffered a season-ending injury. In 2022, Finley competed with Oregon transfer Robby Ashford - "won" the job - suffered an injury vs Penn State in week four and Ashford took the reigns for the rest of the year.

It's been constant competition for the former three-star quarterback. And now, at his new school, he's likely to fight for the right to start once again.

Texas State lost journeyman QB Layne Hatcher (84 career passing touchdowns) to Ball State, leaving them three options before Finley - Malik Hornsby, a former four-star quarterback who backed up KJ Jefferson at Arkansas for three seasons (and took most of the first-team reps during this spring at Texas State), Ty Evans, a former four-star quarterback who originally committed to NC State, and CJ Rogers, a walk-on at Baylor who received offers to play elsewhere after playing well in the spring, per Shehan Jeyarajah of CBS Sports.

Over the course of 18 career games, Finley has completed 57% of his passes for 2,199 yards, throwing for 12 touchdowns and 10 interceptions - most of which has come following a starting quarterbacks' injury. Will be be able to beat out Evans and Rogers for the starting job with the Bobcats?

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