TJ Finley has entered the Transfer Portal, and Auburn Football picks up edge rusher Jalen McLeod

TJ Finley enters the Transfer Portal let's go welcome into the Wednesday installment of the Auburn Daily Show I am your host Harrison tar joins I am every Wednesday by Dylan larkdale we got a busy slate in front of us but how you doing today I'm doing all right I woke up uh about three two hours ago and a bit of a rock uh but I'm good now uh got some food in me and um A-Okay to go and talk about some Auburn football that's right let's jump right into it TJ Finley the end of the wild Saga that was TJ Finley at Auburn is officially here uh the the former LSU transfer quarterback and now former Auburn quarterback has re-entered the transfer portal and will be officially eligible to enroll elsewhere following his graduation in presumptively August he said this summer in his announcement so that would lead me to believe it's it's August I thought he may actually graduate in May but it seems like a couple more credit hours all that to say like I said the era of TJ Finley and Auburn is now officially over and what a wild roller coaster that was Dylan before we even really go forward TJ Finley was kind of the guide that a lot of people thought following you know it could be a solid not only backup to Bow next but compete with that job following um I guess what a lot of people thought was a lackluster Junior campaign or sophomore campaign rather from from Bo next it'd be junior campaign my apologies which I don't I don't really understand that doesn't need to hear nor there but we've seen the highest of highs with TJ Finley and a lot of the lowest of lows most importantly Auburn fans are probably never going to forget him coming in and saving Auburn's but from nearly losing to Georgia State on Homecoming in in [Music] 2022-21 21. and now a narrow loss to Alabama and an overtime Iron Bowl in the first year of the Brian harson Tinder then he comes into in his second year on Brian harson and he wins this starting job TJ Finley is supposedly the guy goes down to injury loses his starting job to Robbie Ashford and and a lot of things went in a lot of different ways here Dylan what's the legacy of TJ Finley at Auburn because I certainly don't think it's a name that you can forget it's a guy that everyone's going to remember that guy happened and and there were some interesting notes throughout his career so what is what is the legacy of TJ Finley at Auburn oh boy I guess it starts off uh you say Finleys Auburn career it's like a roller coaster and that roller coaster seems like it's mostly an incline to a very long and sufferable decline and that might come off a little mean but uh this past season TJ family threw one touchdown to four interceptions two of which came against the Mercer Bears uh it it was a it was a it was a stretch uh and I I gotta be honest I was never on board with a TJ family pickup uh from the get-go starting because I didn't think he was all that great of a quarterback from LSU and I was like I don't know if Brian Carson can fix him the size you can't you can't coach but the tangibles I don't think he really had it ready to really be the starter from the get-go and I guess it just proves that Auburn's quarterback room wasn't good wasn't great wasn't the best that they've seen at the start of this uh pass season because he came out and I gotta be honest Auburn beat Mercer 42-16 but that was a long grueling terrible game all around from the offense you feel like a a team like Mercer they have been known to give teams fits uh uh at times but it looked like it was less Mercer giving Auburn fits and more than it was Auburn giving Auburn fits and it happens a lot when Auburn plays uh those FCS teams uh Jacksonville State 2015 comes to mind and and I think that team is going to get a lot of comparisons this past team because looking at it I think Jeremy Johnson and TJ family had a lot of the same comparisons to each other except I think Jeremy Johnson might have been a better uh decision maker that TJ Finley was while at Auburn and that that's going to come off as a and people aren't probably going to like that one very much but I I think there's a lot of legitimacy to that but looking at it I think this is something that Auburn fans uh I don't want to say uh probably some other fans weren't expecting because going off of what he was saying to all the Jer well he said to the media a lot that he wasn't going to leave but I think with all the recent drama surrounding transfer portal quarterbacks I think he finally took it upon himself to announce swiftly that he was going to head to a new program to finish out his Collegiate playing career well Jimmy completely candid with you with you Dylan I don't think there's many people that thought TJ Finley would return to this roster in 2023 under the first year if he freeze I don't know that he received the new tenure very well I don't know that he necessarily was crazy about the fact that Hugh freeze and Company were pretty open about recruiting every single position via the portal matter of fact after a day it seemed pretty black and white that TJ Finley was was out of there if there was so much as any kind of serious traction with getting a transfer portal quarterback which quite frankly I think is probably going to happen for Auburn whether that be subject a or subject B but it it certainly was not something that was completely out of the blue and not something that not that no one could have seen coming and uh all that all this to say this quarterback room got a little more interesting now because now you've got presumptively Robbie Ashford Holden Garner and Hank Brown those are your those are your three guys barring a transfer quarterback coming in which this really doesn't shake up the depth chart for a lot of people prospectively however it does open up a frees up scholarship spot and B it does kind of bring in I guess maybe make it a little more flashy to transfer quarterbacks saying hey they really only have one guy with experience only one there's a true freshman that most people have all been counted out and hate crown made coming to win this job I may have I don't I don't think so but I've been wrong about a lot before specifically this week neither here nor there but it's it's very interesting to see Dylan does this make the Auburn quarterback position more enticing is it just me or does it make it more enticing for transfer quarterbacks I think it Auburns QB situation does because you're getting rid of a guy who we all president wasn't going to be the starter I mean we've talked about how he probably wouldn't have even been the backup to Robbie Ashford a Holden Garner it gets a a a veteran transferred quarterback progress his mouth a little a little watery because you're looking at a team that has the talent uh we talk about the running back room all the time just because the running back room is really freaking good sure a quarterback can work with that and a quarterback who has been in the league for a hot minute will know that I mean we got guys I mean the rumors surround uh recruiting uh or going or visiting Casey Thompson I'm sure he loved what he saw from the offense of uh capability and a few other quarterbacks that have been to the portal uh are pretty soon to visit uh as well I mean just because you if you want to try your hand at an SEC team Auburn's probably your best bet they're the one team that does not have a solidified starter at quarterback and I could be wrong on that thing well that's Ole Miss doesn't really have their starter yet uh but they're also debating between three guys uh who all could start and I think when you look at it from that point when you see the the the changes made by he Freeze from the Hearthstone era the the uh attention to detail getting in the wide receivers that he needs getting in the defensive players that he needs it makes Auburn from outside the quarterback uh room look really good and a team that could compete for at least the West if given the right quarterback and I think that's where a lot of people are gonna what a lot of quarterbacks are gonna be thinking whenever they enter the portal I don't know about competing for the west but if you're a guy that comes in with more than one year of Eligibility it's certainly an enticing offer seeing seeing the the progress and strides that have been made now we've not seen a single snap yet under Hugh freeze I mean this this is all in speculation we've seen a spring game we've seen limited spring practices so we can't say I mean I don't I don't know more than Joe schmoe about what this team's actually going to produce in in this year I can make an educated guess but that doesn't make me holier than that all that to say I don't disagree I do think that this this and makes it an interesting opportunity for transfer quarterbacks in this portal period specifically now before we get continue talking with transfer portal talk Dylan about Auburn football um and now that we're closing the chapter metaphorically and physically now on TJ Finley and his interesting tenure at Auburn we'll see where he winds up if he winds up another Power five school I think a lot of people will be surprised that's just a little editorialization there but before we move forward I want to take you a second and step aside and let everybody know uh the good word about our sponsors over at nordvpn this video is sponsored by nordvpn staying safe online is an Ever growing difficulty and you could be exploited by hackers nordvpn allows you to change your IP address making you harder to track and securing your privacy nordvpn is giving Auburn daily listeners oh and readers excuse me a special deal check out the link in the episode description today Dylan it's never been more important to stay safe online than it is now and cyber security and cyber attacks are a real thing so nordvpn definitely a great product something we cannot sing songs of enough phrases about I use nordvpm on my personal laptop it'll work so that's that's a true true story using it uh is pretty much every time I go online let's get back to the Auburn football conversation Dawn and it looks like the Tigers just added not it looks like they know we know for a fact that they added another linebacker but another one of those Edge rusher Jack positions talk to me a little bit about this app State transfer doing and I'm not even going to try the last name because I I'm not entirely confident I'll let you do it talk to me about Jalen the App State transfer and you go ahead and show me on how you're going to pronounce the last name Jalen McLeod well believe me there are there are harder names to pronounce that uh oh for sure for sure uh but Jayla McLeod uh at 601 230 pound out of Washington DC uh it's a little little fun tip about where he's from uh yeah I played App State and it seems like the best games he had at App State were against Power five schools he popped off in 2021 against Miami and last year he popped off against a very very mildly by mildly I mean very overrated Texas A M team where he got I believe two sacks out of his six on the season three tackles uh his best games are against the highest rated teams in the country at times that was against number six Texas A M at the time whether or not they were six whatever the season ended that's neither here nor there but yeah you're bringing the guy who has the experience I I believe he has one more year of Eligibility I could be wrong on that uh 2020 he put so he started playing 2020 so he probably has two more years of Eligibility uh with that but looking at it from that uh Auburn gets a guy like Alana McAllister who has the veteran Presence at the edge rusher position and maybe could play a little bit of Valentine linebacker but he's mostly playing the jack and and it gives Coach Rick Fox a little bit more time to develop as a pass rusher that Auburn fans are eagerly waiting for him to show out and and I think this improves upon uh when you lose Dylan Brooks you we kind of saw it as a loss of potential and I think we gained uh not really potential but we gained a player who has I don't say weakness Peak but has proven himself so I think it is an improvement upon losing Dylan Brooks and I I think he's a player who is going to see the field just because defensive line always interchanging you mentioned that that point about Dylan Brooks and and waiting on potential as opposed to kind of running it it's I kind of put it into perspective here as you can go trade in your sports card that doesn't run very well and just kind of Drive someone else's um for for a little bit so you can still have that still have fun I think it's kind of the same concept you know me and my really really bad metaphors but that's that's where that's where I'm going here where you go and get a guy that has played like you mentioned at the highest level and and you can you can shoehorn in into that Jack position Ed frischer whatever you want to call him I just had to place him outside you can place them outside this linebacker room needed help in the worst way and and it was almost to the point Dylan where you could just say go get warm bodies we can teach them how to play football this is Hugh Freeze's way of avoiding that possible scenario and making sure that you've got guys that have experience I mean have state as far as the group of five is concerned one of the Premier teams in the group of five you think of them along the lines of the historically the ucf's sometimes the Memphis the Houstons of of your group of five and always play a tough slate and have a significant power five opponent and this guy's done it time and time again where he showed up and showed out in these in in these power five games something that I certainly think is beneficial to bring to the table when you're playing in the SEC West I mean you're playing the best of the best on a week in week out basis yeah I know that that sounds a lot like uh like I guess SEC homering but that's kind of the truth if you look around pretty much everyone in college football will agree there's no harder division in all of college football than the SEC West having a guy that comes in and knows it takes those games those big games a little extra over the top seriously is certainly something you can play to your advantage don't I I know this wasn't too long of a show today but if you have anything to add I'll let you go and jump in now otherwise I think we're ready to wrap this one up busy day I know we're gonna have a lot more pop off on the Thursday show oh yeah you want to tell everybody where they can find you love you support you oh yeah if you follow me on Twitter at your boy the tank if you're watching And subscribe below me right down there right across the bottom at you boy the tank if you're listening it's at y-a-b-o-i the tank also catch me on the Monday edition of the Auburn Daily Show with Lance style where we talk about transportal prospects Auburn has a really good chance at Landing and go catch me in the college Loop podcast every Tuesday Thursday and Sunday that's at the college Loop and you can follow us literally everywhere too and I am Harrison tar at buyers guitar on the Bird app you can check out more of my podcasting work on the college Loop podcast going to take a couple weeks away from the Auburn Daily Show just gotta get my head right count your mental Count Your Chickens you know what I'm saying just like just like uh the the great Marshawn Lynch once said also he did he said I'm just here so I don't get fined that's never been why I'm here I've never been fine for for uh for not being at the Auburn daily but looking forward to rejoining you guys here shortly it's going to take a little bit of leave by absence Dylan and the rest of the gang Are Gonna Keep rocking you got a ton of fun content headed your way there's we will see you guys same place same time tomorrow I'll be listening guys so make sure you keep rocking out and for all I'm concerned that's going to wrap it up today on the Wednesday installment enjoy the rest of your Wednesday have a great rest of your week