Tag: TJ Finely

Former LSU QB Max Johnson to start for Texas A&M in Week 3

Max Johnson will make the start as the Aggies welcome Miami to College Station on Saturday.

Texas A&M’s offense has had an ugly start in 2022.

Despite scoring 31 points in the opener against Sam Houston State, Haynes King threw two picks. Things didn’t get better in the loss to Appalachian State. King threw for just 97 yards on 20 attempts. He didn’t throw a pick, but he didn’t find the end zone either.

A&M entered the App State game close to a 20-point favorite. The result isn’t sitting well with the folks in College Station and there will be some changes in Week 3.

Most notably, [autotag]Max Johnson[/autotag] will take the reigns at quarterback as the Aggies welcome the Miami Hurricanes to town.

Johnson’s start has yet to be confirmed by A&M, but [autotag]Jimbo Fisher[/autotag] did say they were going to look at other options this week and reports have stated that Johnson worked with the first team.

Johnson initially lost the competition to King after transferring out of LSU. As LSU’s starter in 2021, he offered a mixed bag. He threw 27 touchdowns and just six interceptions, but he was middle of the pack in most other stats.

According to PFF, only three QBs with at least 200 dropbacks graded out worse than Johnson in 2021. Perhaps there is some irony in Johnson’s best game coming against Texas A&M, which also happens to be the last time he made a start.

He threw for 306 yards and three touchdowns, leading a game-winning drive in Ed Orgeron’s final game as head coach.

When [autotag]Myles Brennan[/autotag] went down in 2020, LSU had a revolving door of Johnson and [autotag]T.J. Finley[/autotag] at quarterback. Now, there’s a chance both start on the same day for SEC teams. Although, Finley is mixed up in a QB controversy himself at Auburn.

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Where does Auburn’s QB decision rank among the most difficult?

Who would you pick at QB if the season started today?

When it comes to the 2022 college football season, there is going to be a lot of movement. Especially at the quarterback position.

There has been so much turnover with recruiting and the transfer portal. This could allow for some more parity amongst the teams at the FBS level. Auburn’s Bryan Harsin will be among the head coaches making some difficult roster decisions for the 2022 campaign.

According to this post from 247Sports, the quarterback competition is among the five most difficult decisions in college football.

Harsin will have to decide between one of five quarterbacks on the roster but the likeliness that it will really be between three players. TJ Finley is the lone returning quarterback from last year’s team among the top three. Robby Ashford transferred in from the Oregon Ducks, while Texas A&M Aggies quarterback Zach Calzada decided to take his chances with another SEC West team.

His former team checks in just above Auburn in the rankings, the Aggies have quite the battle themselves. Haynes King was relieved by Calzada following the injury in the game against the Colorado Buffaloes. They also have five-star signee Conner Weigman and former LSU quarterback Max Johnson.

Ashford’s former team makes the list at No. 9 with former Auburn quarterback Bo Nix and Ty Thompson looking to duke it out for the starting job. Among SEC teams, the Florida Gators have the most difficult decisions and Ole Miss joins the list at No. 8.

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We could start to get a clearer picture as spring football is set to open for the Auburn Tigers and Bryan Harsin on Mar. 14. This is one of the roster decisions that I am thankful that I am not making.

Finley is the incumbent starter, as he replaced an injured Nix in the final three games of the season. Calzada has the most starting experience of anyone on the roster and Ashford has tremendous upside as a dual-threat.

Auburn also has two young guns in 2022 signee Holden Geriner and 2021 signee Dematrius Davis.

Should Bryan Harsin entertain the idea of another transfer quarterback?

Is another quarterback too many? Kicking the tires on a top transfer QB who is still available.

There are plenty of questions on the offensive side of the ball. Who will be the offensive coordinator? Who will be the quarterback’s coach? The biggest being who will be the starting quarterback when the Auburn Tigers take the field this fall.

The contenders are Zach Calzada, TJ Finely, and Robby Ashford at the top. Is there another transfer out there that could come in and make this team better?

Connor O’Gara of Saturday Down South kicked around the idea of pursuing former USC and Georgia quarterback J.T. Daniels. Daniels is rated among the top passers available.

What’s the biggest thing Harsin needs to figure out? The offense. Lost in the shuffle of his week in limbo was the fact that he lost offensive coordinator Austin Davis after 6 weeks on the job. But even beyond that, Harsin has something else to figure out — the quarterback situation.

JT Daniels would solve that problem.

If Harsin wants to pin his future on Ashford, Finley or Calzada, that’s on him. But if he dips back into the transfer portal and signs 1 more quarterback who lost his job as an SEC starter, it could be the thing that saves his job.

The premise of the conversation would make sense. The trio of quarterbacks on the roster has started just 13 games combined with a 6-7 record in those contests. Most of that came from Aggies signal-caller Zach Calzada. Finley played in relief duty up until Bo Nix broke his leg.

  • Zach Calzada- 10 starts (6-4)
  • TJ Finley- 3 starts (0-3)
  • Robby Ashford- 0 starts

Could JT Daniels be the next Joe Burrow? Not in the sense that the former Bulldog will put together the best statistical season in one year. Daniels could change the trajectory of the football team on the offensive side of the ball. That would make more sense. Under Harsin in 2021, the offense averaged 28.3 points per game which is No. 68 in the country.

That number is skewed with two games in which Auburn scored 60 and 62 against Akron and Alabama A&M. Against power five teams. that number dropped to 22.1 points per game. They also struggled against Georgia State, TJ Finley came into the game late to save the offense on that day.

Daniels doesn’t have a ton of experience in terms of snaps he took at Georgia. He played in just nine games over two seasons with the Bulldogs but ultimately an injury and the rise of Stetson Bennett kept him off the field. What he does have is being an experienced player that has four years under his belt. Not to mention having been around a championship team.

Daniels clearly has a tremendous upside as a former five-quarterback. Over the life of his career, he has completed 63.8% of his pass attempts with 4,840 yards and 32 touchdowns. Daniels would be a clear upgrade to the room that is full of transfers.

The real question for Daniels is if he wants to stay in the SEC.

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Spring Preview: A look at the Auburn quarterback battle

This is going to be an intense position battle.

For the second straight season, Auburn will have a spring quarterback competition.

Auburn has five scholarship quarterbacks on the roster and to varying degrees, each can make an argument as to why they should win the job. Adding even more credence to this being a wide-open battle, Auburn has added three quarterbacks this offseason in Zach Calzada, Robby Ashford, and Holden Geriner.

This will be an interesting battle to watch and without an offensive coordinator or quarterbacks coach, this race could change depending on who is hired.

The sooner that the Bryan Harsin situation is finally put to rest the team can move forward towards the spring. They also have to address plenty of coaching positions such as who is calling the plays and what offense they will run.

Before any of that is addressed, we preview the quarterbacks.

Behind Enemy Lines: Three questions with Auburn Wire’s Zac Blackerby

Let’s go behind enemy lines with Auburn Wire site editor Zac Blackerby.

As the game approaches on Saturday night in Death Valley, Auburn Wire’s editor Zac Blackerby helps get us ready for the game. He answers three questions about the game, let’s kick it all off with the quarterbacks.

Who starts at quarterback for Auburn on Saturday?

Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports

Zac: I think Bo Nix starts when it’s all said and done. Do I think it’s the best move long-term for the program? No. But I believe Nix will be the guy that trots out were against LSU.

Patrick: As I said in the Auburn Wire roundtable, I think it is TJ Finley. Based on how Nix has looked the last couple of games compared to Finely’s final drive against Georgia State. While it is a small sample, I feel like it sends the wrong message to roll with Nix after Finley gave them the win last week.

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Next, which LSU Tiger will cause headaches on Saturday?

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