Auburn football is in the market for a transfer portal quarterback

all right everybody welcome on into the Auburn Daily Show the Tuesday edition of the Auburn Daily Show Lance doll and Matthew Jacobs hanging out here with you on this beautiful Tuesday afternoon here in Auburn Alabama Matthew really appreciate you hopping on the show with me today gonna dive into some quarterback stuff talking about what Auburn could do in the portal just kind of looking at what we've got currently on roster but before we dive into that Matthew I just want to kind of start things off here talking about a day a little bit more as as some of you may have watched yesterday Dylan Lark and I kind of dove into some of our takeaways from the game kind of gave our thoughts on what happened in the rain there on Saturday but Matthew haven't gotten your thoughts on what happened in the spring scrimmage tell me what did you think about Hugh Freeze's first spring game on the plans oh hey Lance um the first day date I'm gonna go ahead and say that um any coach at any level will be appreciative of the fact that it with that conditions with those conditions that there were no turnovers that should that wasn't mentioned by anybody yet but when you run for 280 yards and I don't know how many carries and and gets smacked because there was there were some licks laid and nobody put the ball on the ground despite the quarterback's best efforts to throw some interceptions there were no interceptions so I was going to mention that that was a great start I imagine he freezes thrilled with that just off the top of my head two linebackers look great for me Austin keys and and Wilbur Woodard excuse me I believe they'll be the starters coming out of the Fall unless something happens in the portal they look great defensive line missed a lot of tackles did not look great the office of line pushed them around got to the second level I mean there were some plays they were just amazing how the opposite lineman especially the left tackle would just eat up to his block and then get to the second level and top the linebacker like crazy a Kaylee looks like a guy that could go to the combine immediately and put up numbers and whoop everybody at the NFL combine that's great look bad poor tackling I want to throw out there that nobody say anything about the kicker McPherson looked great in those conditions so special teams no turnovers hey looking pretty good problem right now yeah absolutely McPherson I believe the the first kick he had was like from 50 49 that he missed but then he made up for it Evan McGuire the backup kicker hit a couple of kicks as well I mean special teams overall looks really really promising and something that the broadcast mentioned that I don't really think anybody's gotten into it's like look Brian batty while he was solid on the ground for Auburn he's going to be featured a lot more in this offense or excuse me for this team rather I should say uh because of what he can do in the kick return game so overall I think those are really good points just keeping it clean uh Auburn's linebacking core you've got two starters there that I think you could be looking forward to next season uh and then overall the quarterbacks um not the most impressive thing uh but hey at least they didn't turn the ball over I want to kind of dive into that now Matthew with you just talking about where Auburn currently feels like they are with these quarterbacks Hugh freeze has been pretty vocal uh this this spring talking about what he expects out of these guys what he expects out of the this room moving forward and he's continued to point out that Auburn is in a position where they could feel comfortable taking another quarterback if they choose to do so in the spring uh in the spring window that's about to open up here in just four days so what are your thoughts on before we dive into the transfer portal stuff what are your thoughts on what Auburn currently has on roster with Ashford Finley and Holden G nobody has the room nobody has the control room nobody has the respect of the room so I don't think they have a quarterback to be honest with you you're talking about a group of guys once again conditions are no excuse there because you're gonna have to play ball and this kind of weather can fall and you have 60 yards passing and 24 of those yards are pretty much non-legitimate because Holden Gardner was sacked on that throw that he that he did make to London King I know if anybody knows that but he was too hand touched he should have been down this place should not have continued so really 39 yards of one beautiful pass from from Ashford to uh I'm John bank here Tavares Dawson thank you to Dawson it's a beautiful pass because Kay and Lee slipped let's just be honest there but it's still Immaculate pass TJ Finley um he's gone I think he played the last game he's going to play in an Auburn uniform with the a day he looked I mean I've heard other people prognosticate that he was the second best quarterback of the day there was in no realm of measurable possibility where he was number two he was awful the the lame duck up to the triple coverage was pretty bad he got building up with a DPI there but there was there was another throw that was here he completely came off the rails is that the it is that the end of the game there where yeah check that man who could have been running for a big play and uh I can't remember who was wide open on the right side of 80 82 by the wide receivers yeah he was at the top left and that was on the play where he scrambled a bit like a quarterback run he missed so many things Finley did that it just I don't see him making the room to be honest with you I don't know where he goes I forget today about this I have no idea where he drops two and what school would want him I'd hate to say it he's a good kid but he's not there Holden Garner on the other hand I thought it looked pretty good as far as what he is he looked exactly like what he is he's a redshirt freshman he you know he three more than anybody else he did throw one bullet pass that he threw he overthrew a couple guys he threw one bullet passed I don't throw a name out there Sean Jackson I'm hearing some guys say that he doesn't have a place in this offense I think he's going to be the third down back next year you know Colonel Williams you mentioned this yesterday said in the presser that Sean Jackson had the best pass protection and he caught a pass from Holden Garner that was burnt to him out of the backfield it was at his face mask I don't know if you noticed that or not he got his hands up quick talk though 80 of the time that Ball's dropped so I think he has a real shot at being the third down you know running back but you know I think Batty's going to be the he was running for the Special Teams like he mentioned but we're getting off track a little bit here Ashford looked like a second string SEC quarterback on a day for me uh 39 yards passing 38 yards rushing he he isn't there yet he's he's just not there yet so obviously I think we're gonna have to go to the portal we could discuss it at nauseum if you want to on every play that was made because there wasn't that many of them I mean 93 yards of offense and or 60 excuse me 60 passing yards one for three for Ashford one for four for Finley and those these are in great numbers I mean Holden gerner what'd he go for three of five I believe three of five uh overthrew I mean got lucky in one I'm gonna give them benefited out on one ether one to the to the out to the sidelines that he threw like 14 foot high I'm hoping he saw that that would have been picked off at the last minute and kind of sorted to keep it from being picked off but none of these quarterbacks are ready for SEC play I don't see them getting ready over the summer or for the fall and I think you agree with me on that you're the way you're shaking your head yeah call it like you see it man and you looked at what happened on a day I understand that the environment is probably not the most beneficial uh for quarterbacking also I don't know if necessarily Auburn's Auburn was in freeze mentioned this earlier in the week that they were trying to do some things but he did say you know we're gonna throw the ball around a little bit we're going to try and execute and in the plays that Auburn offered these quarterbacks they they whiffed consistently you're talking about that check down to uh to Nick martner that Finley threw that he overthrew a six foot six receiver like I don't understand how how things like that happen for a division one much less SEC quarterback um that was uh you know tabbed the starter uh for a team last season so you've got to be able to clean those things up and maybe that cleaning things up means getting someone else in uh to kind of kind of kind of make that happen there I agree with you I don't necessarily feel confident about any of these guys on roster the potential with azure heard is intriguing because of what it means in terms of the scheme that Philip Montgomery and Humphreys are going to be running this year but he's got to become a way more consistent passer in order for Auburn to have more success I would say than they did last year throwing the football he's got to be able to get that down but right now you look at these three guys holding holding Garner uh uh or or gerner I believe they they settled it on the broadcast it's it's gerner if I'm not mistaken I'm gonna have to get that out of my system because I've been calling him calling him something different for for two years now um but yeah I I like I like Holden I like Robbie Finley I agree with you I don't know where he would go but it just feels like he he's out of place uh with this year's team and and it's nothing against him as a person it's just sometimes things don't work out on the football field and if he wants playing time if he wants another opportunity I'm sure that there are some other schools out there that would be willing to to at least give him that shot if not give him uh the the ability to kind of take the reins in an offense here in the future so right now Auburn's quarterback room not the most promising if we had to do and I'm sure that pre-season Magazine's here in about a month and a half or so are going to be ranking quarterbacks in the SEC quarterback rooms I should say Auburn's is probably towards the bottom I mean if we're just going to be completely honest with you and Hugh freeze is known for really getting a good bit out of his quarterbacks but I don't really think that you can sit here and project out something even average to above average out of Auburn's quarterback room in terms of throwing the football so you turn to the portal like you freeze has said several times he would take a quarterback out of the portal if they can get it but he would have to meet certain requirements we're about to see that happen April 15th is when the portal opens Auburn's going to be looking at I can only imagine a variety of quarterbacks that are going to be entering uh again come Friday that's kind of what I want to take and make the bulk of the show here today Matthew is is taking a look at some of these quarterbacks Auburn may have their eye on you have five I have an extra one and another piece that we wrote over in auburndaily.com that I want to point out before we dive into that though Matthew just want to remind you guys want to tell you guys that this video is sponsored by nordvpn staying safe online is an Ever growing difficulty it's really easy to get exploited by hackers nowadays and just in browsing the internet going to any random site as you may but nordvpn can protect you it allows you to change your IP address and make you harder to track securing your privacy nor VPN is giving Auburn daily listeners and readers a special deal so check out the link in the episode description today to get that special deal thank you so much to knowervpn for sponsoring this video all right Matthew I want to dive into first the five quarterbacks that you have written about over at almeredaily.com talking about some different guys that you may think Auburn could be looking at because they are the only quarterbacks that would be worth anything in the transfer portal right now but after that though I want to get into your list of players that you think may enter the portal slash are already in it that you would be excited about seeing Hugh freeze and this coaching staff pursue you've got Auburn's five current portal options at quarterback over up at auburndaily.com again written by your boy Matthew Jacobs he mentions in the article pretty straightforward Matthew I'm kind of like you I'm kind of gonna let you take the reins here it's slim pickings uh for the Tigers right now before things open up on April 15th so is there any sort of legitimacy to any quarterback in here uh that we could be excited about or be paying attention to as fans before that portal opens up on Friday uh in a word uh no maybe maybe at the bottom because uh his zika obviously from from the airports he got he got denied so he can't go anywhere he's not going to be a graduate chance Nolan from Oregon state is a is a name that's on that list of five that is he's been sitting there since December 1st nobody's wanted to take a chance on him he's got a great arm great great everything really is a little bit consistent with his uh you know his completion percentage but there's a lot of teams scared of him because he took a brutal concussion five games in last year it was it was one of the worst I've seen so I think that's that's there's a little fear there but he could bring everything Arbor wanted to immediately he's got the experience he's got the passing yards I mean 3 000 yards in a season in four games that's not bad that's nothing to take a stick at so and his touchdown interception ratio was pretty decent but he's really the only one in the portal right now that would even remotely be considered at Auburn and I don't see that happening either so you look at the Five Guys in the quarterback in the quarterback uh portal as a whole that that Matthew wrote about uh haziq Daniels I believe is how you pronounce his name out of Air Force yeah you've got Kink head Dent uh which is just a fascinating name out of Ole Miss right say it again you're exactly right that's interesting Kink head and that's his real name I looked it up and that's how you pronounce it correct you are dead on all right Chase wolf uh transfer from Wisconsin uh and then again like you mentioned chance Noland chance Nolan not Noland as a as another uh Prospect probably the most likely uh here out of the quarterbacks uh that Auburn could be looking at but the portal entering uh opening up rather in just a few days and Matthew you've got five guys uh no Burgers and Fries that Auburn could be taking a look at if they choose to enter the portal why don't we go ahead and start here at the top with a guy that you uh told to me before we started recording uh you're really uh intrigued with and that's Casey Thompson the quarterback from Nebraska previously at Texas he would be a stud get uh he's working on his shoulder right now he had to set up spring training had a little procedure done on his shoulder new coaching staff there Matt rule came in he's not getting a lot of love the coaching staff really loves who they have there I'm not going to throw that name out there he's a six-year senior graduate came from Texas went we went to Nebraska he's a moonshot he's probably the best person that I can think of off top of my head that would make Auburn a legitimate 10 win maybe I'll even you know 10 win ball team something along those lines he his father and he I'm gonna stressed his father have really committed through the media that they want to stay at Nebraska he's kind of indicated otherwise but if things were to go south there because he's not getting what he wants out of the Spring ball situation he'd be a great grad transfer to Auburn gives the guys at Auburn a chance to to catch up maybe a little bit and get some of these recruits in and see how they do you could plug and play him almost immediately I would go from there Casey's is a great thought I'm gonna go ahead and throw a few more names out there and that's you know Spencer Sanders a little Miss grad transfer he's in a a traffic quarterback battle right now at Ole Miss that he's probably not gonna get the best into and I know before you scream at me well we would want a a guy that could make an SEC roster well none of our guys can make an SEC roster this guy's got the quality and he can plug and play into Freeze's offense no problem then win football games that's what we're trying to do here win football games um and then the one that's really striking means is day I'm just more and more the more they recruit is Evan Evan Prater see if I got that name around Evan Prater out of Cincinnati uh well once again he backed up last year and played wonderful the qb-1 went down I can't remember his name and if he is at quarterback one coming out of spring after the way he played last year he's a definite option and uh then I'm on the win from duke I think Riley from dude he's from Fairhope Alabama he really kind of wanted to go to Auburn in the first place and ended up at Duke he's going up there and thrown for 3 000 yards great touchdown interception ratio he's a guy that I'm looking at too and of course again chance Nolan I think is somebody who deserves some consideration if you're not too scared about the concussion thing all five I think really solid options for Auburn if you're talking about which is what you just said getting this program elevated back to where they want to be in terms of Baseline wins and and that's looking at seven or eight minimum uh every single year I think that any of these guys for for this season alone like you said could could go out there and help Auburn win football games you made some very very good point about the the current state of this roster relative to some of these quarterbacks in the portal it's really really hard to turn your nose up at an average to above average power five starter or in you can also classify Cincinnati as that as at this point I guess starting next year because of the situation that Auburn has on roster right now with the three quarterbacks that they have not particularly confident in any of their abilities to kind of elevate this team past where they could be with another quarterback like Thompson Prater Leonard and one of these guys here looking statistically at some of these different QBs I mean they're they're not bad selections during hit Four Seasons that Thompson played uh for Texas and Nebraska 47 touchdowns 19 interceptions he did have a 17-10 TD int ratio with his only year with the Corn Huskers so far um maybe we see that go up if he's able to win that job over Jeff Sims uh here this uh this fall you've also got I just want to point out here former four-star quarterback so it's not like some Rando uh you know mid recruit that we're looking at here he was a solid quarterback coming out of high school as well Evan Prater is somebody that I would be intrigued with at 6'4 looks like a dual threat type of guy like you mentioned uh came in for a little bit of playing time after the starter got hurt for the Bearcats last year Riley Leonard is somebody that I was very intrigued with about a month or so ago not quite sure if he's the lead candidate for the Tigers right now in terms of what they could be looking at anticipating coming out of the portal um but I think he's going to be somebody that they're they they have their eyes on one of the reasons being like you mentioned from Fairhope Alabama 2 900 passing yards last year for Leonard as a freshman if I'm not mistaken 20 touchdowns six interceptions also had almost 700 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns as well I mean this kid put in some work and he's got some height to him as well six foot four 212 pounds when you look at this kid's stat line it looks like I would assume without the personality like a Chad Kelly right yeah somebody that can go out there and get you some of those rushing yards I believe Kelly twice in his Ole Miss career was second on the team in rushing yards one of those Seasons I know he had at least 500 so it's he he was a dual threat type of guy um slung the ball around didn't turn the ball over a ton compared to a guy like Beau Wallace uh Leonard would be I think frame wise stat wise uh would be a Hugh freeze type of quarterback and then there's one other guy that I wanted to point out here you mentioned chance Nolan as well and Spencer Sanders who if he were able to bounce out from Ole Miss and take maybe a trip down to the plains I think that he would be a great system fit um but Hayden wolf is a name that a lot of you probably have not heard of pretty valid not saying that there's any smoke here but he just today just a little bit uh before this recording enter the transfer portal he is from Old Dominion he's a sophomore six foot five 235 pounds through 18 touchdowns to six interceptions last year uh for the monarchs uh I think that he could be somebody that uh some power five program is looking at is it Hugh freeze in Auburn maybe but it's another name in the portal now that that I think could be uh somebody to at least watch he wasn't the most accurate um and again he was playing at a place like Old Dominion is that better than Robbie Ashford and TJ Finley would that be a better backup quarterback than whatever Auburn gets in the portal or ends up starting for them I think that would be an argument to be made so that's a name I just wanted to toss out there uh it's a great name um I think all of these guys everybody we mentioned betters Auburn's quarterbacks yeah but we also we're gonna never missed to mention that you know there's still Hank Brown coming in the fall we haven't mentioned that and what does that mean for Garner I'm trying to say his name correctly too does he does does he see the writing on the wall there too or does he stay and participate with Hank Brown coming in as you can Hank Brown be a starting freshman it's not unheard of to have a freshman in the SEC start is he he's a baby goat can he do it he looked really good playing for a really good quarterback who turned into a coach Dilfer yeah so there's always that possibility too so so kind of just a wrap up here thoughts on the transfer portal and thoughts on Auburn's current roster situation I mean you've been pretty point blank with who you think is going to stay and who's gonna who's gonna go or potentially leave here Matthew let's throw this hypothetical out there because it feels like the most likely situation portal opens up on Friday Auburn within the a few days or a week identifies their guy and gets him out of the portal he is somebody that could be a starter and is leaning towards and the fan base's eye and just the way that the program talks about him he's looking like he's probably going to be a starter just based on the way that Auburn talks about him and he's gonna not necessarily gonna be a high profile guy but somebody if they could look at he's number one right you've got Ashford Finley Garner Brown outside of the kid that transfers in what do you see those other four quarterbacks doing in that in that scenario to in response to Auburn picking up that kid also you have to add in that you know you have the The Walker coming in next year could that be running up right up against Brown and all these guys too yeah so it creates a best reason I think you want to go with an alder you want to go with an older guy if you can like the best reason I think the guy from Nebraska Casey Thompson such a good choice because he's going to be going after the year no matter what it gives it gives it lets you keep these guys because that's what you're looking at you're not really worried at two about TJ Finley at this point unless he wants to sit out for a year so he's he's going to be the backup quarterback he's he's got a skill level that's back up in the SEC that's for sure other than that I don't know like I said you I'm not sure how it works you throw your name in the portal as long as you get in there before the the 30th yeah they can sit there all summer you can be picked up anytime I think I'm not sure but um you know who knows so it's some of these guys I got to see gerner throwing his name out there if he really sees the riding on the wall it's like hey I'm a 30 string quarterback going into fight at the best I'm the third string quarterback I hope not I hope you keep him he looks good he made three bad Zone reads the other day but he can he can play he's a young kid that can pick it up it can be trained but yeah as right now honestly just like you said you did I believe you're going to get your starter out of the portal I believe ashford's going to be pushed but he's not going to have the currently have the ability to lead this football team to more than six or seven wins and then I don't know Hank Brown's gonna be there that's probably going to push gerner to Fourth because Brown has better a skill set than he has for this offense so your guess is as good as mine on that one I don't know what they do I don't see them then you got Walker coming in I don't I don't see I don't know I don't know how you recruit for it unless you bring in a guy who's you know if you bring in a guy who's a sophomore for a starter this year unless he's going to the NFL what do you do yep what what decision do you make there if you bring in a young younger guy that's a good point talking about you know for for Auburn's roster makeup for the unit uh that next season uh with Walker white coming in what decision can you make now that best puts you in a position where players don't transfer out next year um you're trying to keep as many of these guys on roster and if you can trying to build up some more quality depth I would say than what Auburn's had over a couple of years now so getting a more experienced quarterback makes the most sense if Auburn doesn't get it get a an experienced quarterback you're looking at guariner uh gerner he did it again you're looking at gerner you're looking at Finley and you're looking at you know potentially losing either Hank brown or Walker white if they do decide hey I was coming in to expect in the situation next season to be somebody that was at least competing for this job maybe Walker White's in a situation where he understands look year one probably gonna be backing somebody up maybe he's content with that but here's the thing like you said if you get a sophomore quarterback out of the portal I mean if he's not somebody that's ready to pop for the draft that's two more years if a guy like Walker white comes in he's gonna be like okay I have to wait until my junior year uh potentially to to go out and win this job and at that point if Hank Brown's still sticking around I mean there's another guy on your roster if brown red shirts that you're looking at a junior as well competing for the starting job not the worst situation for Auburn but maybe if these kids are looking for a legitimate shot at playing at the next level I mean that's where they're going to turn is is the portal if they want to go get that more extra playing time so really interesting how this could all shake out depending on who Auburn gets here within the next couple of weeks I I think that you would agree with me I would expect Auburn to get somebody um maybe two maybe two that's what I was that's what I was about to say is is do you think maybe we could potentially see Auburn pick up two guys I mean the you know the more the merrier at that point right yeah I'm sorry not the the problem with that is is that we have a certain amount of scholarship spots for spots and we're at the send out 12 or 14 guys which for you and I that's great we have something to write about and talk about but we're going to send 12 to 14 guys out to bring six or eight guys in yep and those numbers are going to fluctuate so I don't know that you can go get two but I think I think it's honest that you can get a guy and Riley Leonard I think you can put two people in front of Ashford going into fall we could we could we could do that and I think it freeze has the opportunity in Montgomery too they're going to pull the trigger on that and because they're they're not going to let him right now let's be honest with Vanderbilt has a better quarter such a quarterback situation than we do yep think about that for a minute I saw you right about that the other day and I was like I wonder if somebody's gonna take like a disagreement with that because I I'm I'm right there with you I'm like I I completely agree with what he had to say about that because AJ Swann uh it was it was was solid for them I didn't turn the ball over uh during during some of the games that he had last year Mike Wright transfer and I can't remember where he transferred to was it Mississippi State I think it was yeah it wasn't Mississippi State I don't know I think I think it was great yeah I think you're right um and then I I think that if I'm not mistaken they've got like a decent quarterback coming in Venable does yeah they do and you know Mississippi state has several good ones Ole Miss has a plethora of them Georgia has like 10. Alabama has two good ones plus I hate the name the team we do not mention their name they have several sitting there literally literally Arbor might be in the worst situation I don't know no the Florida is trying to compete they're they're trying to get down to that level bringing in who they brought in Florida doesn't negatively competing you know they brought in Grand mercs and everybody just went okay so we're going to take them from about middle of the pack and we're gonna slide them down to about 12 here so see how they work out when you when you pick up a when you pick up a quarterback and the opposing team that quarterback come from are celebrating the fact and thanking the fans that you took the guy away from them that's probably not going to be a good sec pick just yeah uh half the fan base thought that about Bo Nick someone said which I wonder how that worked yeah wouldn't you love to have him right now yeah wouldn't you love to have Bo Nicks come back to Auburn right now in a Philip Montgomery Humphrey's offense that would be fun anyway less torture for the Auburn fans here I kind of want to wrap things up get your final thoughts what what do you think if Auburn does pick up a quarterback like Leonard like Sanders somebody that could could be of that starting caliber I asked Dylan this question on yesterday's show coming out of spring games I like to say that's a blank win team just kind of joking uh but also kind of being serious just kind of giving my thoughts on that's the product that Auburn put out um for the fans to see that's a blank win team with a transfer portal quarterback what type of team is Auburn this year just wins with this defense which we saw a very vanilla defense on an a day with this offensive line who I think they're going to add some depth of that too it's going to be wonderful and with this running game you had a starting quarterback who's not just throwing interceptions and making bad choices all the time this is a 10-1 team this could be quickly become a team that is Auburn always does well from this role you know this you're not you know it guys so I can see too much you keep Rock if Robbie ashford's a starter coming out of spring I'm thinking seven to eight wins tops if you add a guy in unless there's a huge leap there if you add a guy in like you know like a Casey Thompson if you're out of Casey Thompson and if you had a Leonard in the sky that's the kind of the limit there's still gonna be those two teams I don't think you beat but you catch one early in the year this could be a good football team real quick I think they've got the pieces I think they've got the pieces to to make some noise in the SEC I mean we saw LSU do it last year um it's the talent uh on roster comparable to what else you had last year I'd have to take a look my gut tells me no um but then again I I do think that like you said auburn plays best uh whenever whenever the the underdog uh so to speak so we'll see what happens I'm excited to see what Auburn does in the portal if you want to keep up with everything that the tigers are uh keeping it up on uh with the portal you can check us out over at auburndaily.com all of our written work there will be uh will be on display on Friday and throughout the weekend as the Tigers start to identify some of the pieces they could they could get not just quarterback as well there so that's gonna do it for today's episode of the Auburn Daily Show you can follow the show on Twitter at the Auburn daily you can follow me on Twitter lansdahl underscore Matthew you want to drop your Twitter handle uh here real quick underscore at underscore Matthew Jacobs underscore if you want to send me the hate mil for the Vanderbilt comment go right on ahead absolutely you can uh you can also check out again all of our written work over at auburndaily.com if you have not subscribed to the YouTube channel already go ahead and do so if you're listening on podcasts go ahead and give us a follow there as well we will see you all tomorrow for another episode of the Auburn Daily Show hope you guys have a great rest of your day and God bless