Malcolm Simmons Sees ‘Big Differences’ with Auburn's New QB Room

It’s safe to say that in the eyes of wide receiver Malcolm Simmons, the offense has gotten not one, but two massive upgrades at quarterback. With Auburn getting former Oklahoma Sooner quarterback Jackson Arnold in the transfer portal and incoming freshman Deuce Knight, they have quarterbacks for the present and future. 

A week into spring practice, Simmons can already tell that both quarterbacks are upgrades from a year ago. 

“It’s been a good spring, just being able to connect with the quarterbacks and being able to see the difference from this year to last year, and it’s a big difference,” Simmons said. 

Simmons was a freshman last season. Alongside fellow freshman wide receiver Cam Coleman, he had a strong freshman year, finishing with 40 receptions for 451 yards and three touchdowns. His total for receptions was the second best on the team behind senior KeAndre Lambert-Smith. 

Tigers’ head coach Hugh Freeze had to go out and find his new quarterbacks after the entire quarterback room left. Last season’s starting quarterback, Payton Thorne, graduated. Walker White transferred to Baylor while Hank Brown left for Southern Miss.   

Arnold and Knight were brought in along with Stanford transfer Ashton Daniels, who will likely compete with Knight for the backup role.  

Arnold looks to have improved fortunes after two mediocre seasons at Oklahoma. During the Week 4 matchup against the Tennessee Volunteers, Sooners head coach Brent Venables benched him in favor of Michael Hawkins Jr. Arnold gave up three turnovers in the first half (an interception and two fumbles). That type of pressure did not fix the situation in Norman, Okla. 

Despite getting the starting job back a month later against South Carolina, the benching helped Arnold’s confidence. The Sooners went 2-4 in the remaining games with wins against Maine and Alabama.  In that time, Arnold threw for 883 yards, five touchdowns and most importantly, zero interceptions. Auburn provides Arnold with the chance to get the change of scenery that he needs. 

For Deuce Knight, he joins the Tigers as a five-star true freshman quarterback. He turned heads in high school. He had 5,792 passing yards and 51 passing touchdowns on 333 completions for 582 passing attempts. In that time, he had just 12 interceptions. 

With the new quarterbacks to complement the receiving options Auburn has, Simmons thinks the offense could take a significant step forward. 

“Two great quarterbacks. As long as they can continue to keep putting the ball where we want, we can expect some big things this season,” Simmons said. 

The Tigers' Spring Game, A-Day, is on April 12. We will get a taste of the 2025 season. Their first football game will be against the Baylor Bears on Friday, Aug. 29 in Waco, Texas. This will be the first away game for the Tigers. The times of both events are TBA. 

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