Although he has not been formally announced as Auburn’s starter at quarterback for the 2022 season, Pro Football Focus believes [autotag]Zach Calzada[/autotag] has been given a strong case to earn that position.
Seth Gazinaa, senior football analyst at Pro Football Focus, recently dropped his list of his favorite Power 5 quarterbacks. He listed Calzada in the same category as Kentucky’s Will Levins, Louisville’s Malik Cunningham, and South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler as tier 2 quarterbacks.
my favorite P5 quarterbacks after watching every single one this offseason:
bryce young
taulia tagovailoa
cj stroud
will rogerstier 2: calzada, levis, DTR, rising, cunningham, williams, rattler
small sample but 📈: shapen, daniels (yes I swear a kansas qb is good) pic.twitter.com/yN4v6ThTQf— Seth Gazinaa (@pff_seth) June 22, 2022
Calzada transferred to Auburn after playing in 15 games with 10 starts in three seasons at Texas A&M. He completed 184-of-327 passes in 2021 for 2,185 yards and 17 touchdowns, but is most notably the quarterback that led the Aggies to a 41-38 upset win over Alabama at Kyle Field on October 9.
Gazinaa says that the Alabama win was the game that made him a believer in Calzada.
“Zach Calzada surprised me the most upon rewatch after watching a bit of him in season,” said Gazinna in a tweet. “Was one of the better qbs (sic) from the ‘Bama game on.”
Upon reading Gazinaa’s tweet, the Auburn Observer’s Justin Ferguson broke down Calzada’s stats following the Alabama game and found some amusing numbers.
did some quick math after seeing @pff_seth’s tweet about Zach Calzada and the numbers back it up pic.twitter.com/RaqPwsms4k
— Justin Ferguson (@JFergusonAU) June 22, 2022
In last season’s game against his new team, he completed 15-of-29 passes for 192 yards in the Aggies 20-3 win over Auburn in College Station.
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