Will Auburn Make a Change at Quarterback?

With the Auburn Tigers dropping four straight conference games, there are question marks in many places on the team, including the quarterback position.

Current Auburn starting quarterback Jackson Arnold has started his last two games on fire, and then the Auburn offense fell completely flat on its face. The Auburn offense has yet to score 20 or more points in a game since starting conference play.

Head coach Hugh Freeze on Monday addressed whether or not backup quarterback Ashton Daniels could potentially see reps if the Auburn offense sputters yet again and if the team is considering redshirting the transfer from Stanford.

“Not anymore," Freeze said, referring to Daniels' redshirt status. “We are going to play to win. He’s prepared to play the last few (games), but if you go watch the game and you’re watching it live, it’s really hard to complain about Jackson (Arnold) in the first half of the last two games, for sure. That game could have easily been 14-0 after the second drive, and Jackson was playing at a high level. We have to get that consistency throughout the game or we have to go find a spark.”

Whether or not Arnold is the problem for the Auburn offense, it cannot be ignored that it is not all on the quarterback. In the past few years, the Auburn fanbase pointed fingers at then-quarterback Payton Thorne. But the Arnold-led offense is running into the same problem, except it is sacks instead of turnovers.

Both quarterbacks have one common denominator: the same offensive play-calling staff. The Auburn offense has not only struggled because of quarterback play since SEC play started, but also because the Auburn offense is one of the most predictable in college football, with defenses easily taking away weapons such as receiver Cam Coleman with simple coverages. 

Auburn's pass protection does not help, either.

Auburn quarterbacks have been sacked a nation-high 27 times so far this season. For comparison, the Thorne-led offense last season had a total of 27 sacks in the entire 2024 season.

Freeze emphasized the details within Auburn's offense need to improve.

“We have to coach harder, demand more of ourselves and of the kids," he explained. "The answer can’t be, 'I don’t know why he ran it right the first quarter and he didn’t the third quarter.

“That’s no longer acceptable, nor is you run inside zone in overtime that we’ve been averaging, I don’t know six yards on a carry, and we get beat inside at a tackle position where just, the footwork for that, you don’t get beat inside on that play. Let him beat you outside. That’s fine. Whether it’s the ball has to come out to your second progression. It has to come out and it’s there, so turn it loose. We have to demand more. Our coaches are very clear on how I feel right now about that and hopefully we lessen what we’re carrying. There’s zero room for excuses.”

Freeze is failing to realize one very important factor: defenses adjust.

While Auburn averages a significant number of rushing yards through a large portion of the games, by lining up in the same formations calling the same plays, the defense will catch on eventually. Even if they did not catch on, untimely calls cost Auburn.

A run play on 3rd-and-6 in double overtime is not going to get it done. Between two overtime drives, the Auburn offense ran 7 offensive plays and gained -5 total yards on those seven plays.

Many things could be corrected about the Auburn offense, but at the end of the day, a coach needs to take responsibility and realize that he is not putting his team in places to succeed on offense.

DJ Durkin’s defense goes untouched by Freeze, and it only takes looking at it to know that it is best if Freeze takes a more hands-off approach to the offense moving forward.

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