Hugh Freeze replaced his entire Auburn football QB room this offseason after Payton Thorne ran out of eligibility, and Hank Brown, Walker White, and Holden Geriner to the transfer portal.
Freeze added 5-star Deuce Knight to his No. 6 overall 2025 recruiting class and then signed Jackson Arnold and Ashton Daniels via the transfer portal.
Adding three QBs in one recruiting cycle raises plenty of questions. The main one: how does Freeze plan on using all three?
As The Montgomery Advertiser’s Adam Cole writes, Arnold is the projected starter — and has a chance of breaking out under Freeze and offensive coordinator Derrick Nix’s schemes — while Daniels is the likely break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option behind him. Cole doesn’t project a big role for Knight.
“In an Oklahoma offense with a struggling offensive line and a receiving corps littered with injuries, Arnold still threw for nearly 1,500 yards and completed more than 60% of his pass attempts. He also threw 12 touchdowns to three interceptions while impacting games with his legs,” Cole wrote.
“At Auburn, he’ll have a young, but deep and talented-filled, battalion of pass-catchers, as well as an offensive line that’s made some considerable upgrades.
“Indeed, Knight is Auburn’s quarterback of the future. But if all goes to plan, Knight won’t play more than a few snaps in 2025. With the addition of Ashton Daniels, it’s likely the Tigers would turn to the Stanford transfer should Arnold be sidelined for any reason.”
Auburn went with experience over potential in 2024 by rolling with Thorne over his freshmen/redshirt freshmen teammates. That seems to be the play again as the Tigers add new names to the marquee.
But if Arnold isn’t working out, Freeze doesn’t have the time to continue forcing the fit like he did with Thorne. Another losing record probably doesn’t cut it for AU’s boosters.
Freeze needs to figure the QB position out. It’s been his undoing so far and could cause the bottom to fall out completely on the Plains.
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