Tag: TJ Finley

Former LSU QB TJ Finley commits to fourth school

TJ Finley had a big season in the Sun Belt with Texas State in 2023.

Former LSU quarterback [autotag]TJ Finley[/autotag] is spinning the transfer wheel once again.

After a prolific season at Texas State, the veteran passer entered the transfer portal for the third time this offseason. On Monday, he announced his commitment to Western Kentucky.

A native of Ponchatoula, Louisiana, Finley started five games due to injury as a true freshman in 2020. He entered the transfer portal following that season and landed at Auburn, where he would be an occasional starter over the next two seasons.

He had something of a career resurgence with the Bobcats this season, starting all 13 games while totaling more than 3,500 yards and 29 touchdowns with just eight interceptions.

Now, he joins a Western Kentucky program that has had quite a bit of success with transfer quarterbacks. Houston Christian transfer Bailey Zappe set FBS records for passing yards and touchdowns in 2021, while West Florida transfer Austin Reed also saw a lot of success over the previous two seasons.

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Report: Robby Ashford to enter transfer portal

Ashford passed for 1,758 yards and nine touchdowns in two seasons on the Plains.

It appears that a spot has opened up on Auburn’s quarterback depth chart.

According to a report by Nubyjas Wilborn of Newsweek, sophomore quarterback [autotag]Robby Ashford[/autotag] has entered the transfer portal after spending two seasons on the Plains.

Originally signing with Oregon, Ashford returned to his home state ahead of the 2022 season. He split time with former Auburn quarterback [autotag]TJ Finley[/autotag] before Finley suffered a shoulder injury in Auburn’s loss to Penn State in week three, thus paving the way for Ashford to take the reigns of the offense.

He returned to the role of secondary quarterback in 2023, sharing time with Michigan State transfer [autotag]Payton Thorne[/autotag]. He rushed for 217 yards and five touchdowns for the Tigers this season, while passing for just 145 yards and two scores.

This chapter in Ashford’s college career closes with 1,758 passing yards and nine touchdowns. He also rushed for 927 yards and 12 scores. He has two seasons of eligibility remaining.

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Former Auburn QB is a ‘difference maker’ at Texas State

Texas State head coach GJ Kinne is pleased with what he has seen out of former Auburn quarterback TJ Finley.

Auburn fans celebrated the start of a new era on Saturday by watching their favorite team earn a 59-14 win over UMass.

Halfway across the country, a member of the program’s past era celebrated a win of his own.

[autotag]TJ Finley[/autotag] appeared in 13 games during his two-year stint with Auburn and would pass for 1,258 yards and 12 touchdowns. Finley learned that the quarterback battle at Auburn would be moving forward without him, so he elected to enter the transfer portal. He found a new home within the Sun Belt Conference at Texas State University.

On Saturday, Finley threw for 298 yards and three touchdowns in Texas State’s upset win over Baylor in Waco.

Texas State head coach GJ Kinne calls Finley a “difference-maker” and recalls when he discovered Finley was in the transfer portal.

“I was in New Braunfels, over there and I saw his name go in the portal,” Kinne tells Andy Staples of On3. “I talked to a couple people, got his number, reached out to him and kind of gave him my spiel. He came on an official visit later that week and he had a couple other P5 OVs lined up, and after the OV he canceled them and decided to be a Bobcat, which was huge.”

The Bobcats’ win over Baylor was impressive, and Kinne will rely on Finley to produce more wins this season. Finley steps into a new situation in San Marcos, which may help him reach his full potential.

“He just needed to be in the right system,” Kinne said. “If you look at his career, the guys that recruited him for their system kind of left. So it was a situation where we felt really confident in his abilities, we just had to get him here.”

Finley will face another challenge this Saturday, as he will lead Texas State into the Alamodome to face UTSA.

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Saturday’s scrimmage will provide a turning point in quarterback battle

The quarterback race is still wide open. That could change this weekend.

One of Auburn football’s most important questions heading into the fall may soon have an answer.

After spring practice, the quarterback battle appeared to be decided as [autotag]TJ Finley[/autotag] elected to transfer to Texas State. However, the race took an interesting turn in May as Michigan State transfer [autotag]Payton Thorne[/autotag] announced that he would be transferring into the program to compete with incumbent [autotag]Robby Ashford[/autotag].

Since then, the competition has turned up a notch. Even dark horse contender [autotag]Holden Geriner[/autotag] is trying to make a splash in the decision.

Offensive coordinator [autotag]Philip Montgomery[/autotag] provided an update regarding quarterbacks with the media on Monday. He says that he hopes Saturday’s scrimmage will provide more clarity on the battle.

“I just want to see somebody take control and take a step forward. Separate themselves. That’s what you’re looking for in your quarterback position — a guy that’s gonna lead, guy that’s gonna make plays,” Montgomery said. “He doesn’t have to be Superman, but he does have to be consistent in his play in his decision making and taking care of the football, and then moving us down the field and staying ahead of chains.”

He went on to say that the quarterback who remains the most consistent in making plays will win the job. But what does each quarterback bring to the table? He began by describing Thorne and his “student of the game” mentality. Thorne has done well at getting up to speed with the new system.

“He’s seeing things right now at a really good rate,” Montgomery said. “You’ve gotta remember, he wasn’t here in the spring. Some of the things that he’s picked up on, we’ve gotta get everybody else around that to be on the same page with him. But I think he’s done a great job with his leadership. He’s disciplined, and he’s professional about what he does.”

When it comes to Ashford, Montgomery says that he has become more consistent over the fall.

“(Ashford has) got a big arm. But it’s the consistency of the fundamentals that kind of go into that part of it. He’s worked really hard on that,” Montgomery said. “I think he’s really operated. He does a really good job of trying to lead and be positive and do the things that we’re asking him to do.”

The Tigers will continue fall camp until Saturday, Aug. 19. As part of fall camp, Auburn will have two scrimmages at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

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Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Taylor on Twitter @TaylorJones__

Potential transfer quarterbacks for Notre Dame and if they should pursue

Who do you like from this hypothetical list?

With the quarterback position in such a odd place for Notre Dame, it only makes sense to look around and see who else is out there. Recently, I complied a list of current QB’s in the transfer portal and if they would be a fit for the Irish.

Today, 247Sports Clint Brewster looked at hypothetical portal quarterbacks, so let’s do the same drill and see if they are fits for the Irish if they end up in the portal.

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Where the Auburn offense ranks per Pro Football Focus

How does the Auburn offense grade through a third of the season?

It has been a Jekyll and Hyde like offense for the Auburn Tigers. The running game looks solid while the passing game looks like a junior varsity squad.

A lot of the inefficiencies can be dropped at the feet of the offensive line. They have trouble in both pass and run blocking through four games this season. That came against Mercer, San Jose State, Penn State, and Missouri. Not exactly murderer’s row, but the upcoming games against LSU, Georgia, Arkansas, Ole Miss, and Alabama definitely does.

Not everything can be put on the guys protecting, but the receivers and quarterbacks hold their fair share of the blame. One thing that seems to be a bright spot has been the running game led by preseason All-SEC running back Tank Bigsby. Bigsby has forced 31 missed tackles and tallied 246 yards after contact.

We break down the offensive units with their season grades from Pro Football Focus through a third of the season.

Winners and Losers from Auburn’s loss to Penn State

That was an embarrassing loss by Auburn.

That was not how Auburn wanted their rematch against Penn State to go.

The Tigers were looking to get revenge for last year’s loss in Beaver Stadium and had an electric Jordan-Hare Stadium behind them. That was not nearly enough as Auburn fell 41-12 to the Nittany Lions for their first loss of the season.

While the offense has struggled throughout the first two games of the season the defense has done enough to avoid a disastrous start to the season, that did not happen Saturday as Penn State exploded for 27 second-half points to pull away.

Here are the winners and losers from Auburn’s loss.

Auburn falls to Penn State 41-12 for first loss of the season

This was a disappointing performance by Auburn who now enter SEC play.

Auburn faced its first test of the season on Saturday and failed it.

The Tigers fell to Penn State 41-12 in Jordan-Hare Stadium for their first loss of the season.

While some will point to the quarterbacks and their turnovers, Auburn’s has much bigger issues on offense and defense.

Penn State’s pass rush was able to completely take over the game and ensure neither [autotag]T.J. Finley[/autotag] nor [autotag]Robby Ashford[/autotag] were ever comfortable. [autotag]Tank Bigsby[/autotag], Auburn’s best offensive player, had just six touches in the first half.

Meanwhile, the defense still has not forced a turnover, was unable to pressure Sean Clifford and came apart in the second half of the game.

Auburn’s defense attempted to set the tone early, Owen Pappoe delivered a massive hit to Clifford and the Tigers stopped them on 4th down to set up the offense at the Penn State 47.

The Tigers were able to get into the redzone but stalled and were forced to kick a field goal to take a 3-0 lead with 8:20 left in the first quarter.

Clifford and the Nittany Lions were able to respond on their next drive. He picked apart Auburn’s secondary, completing all three of his passes for 50 yards, and ran it in from the seven yard-line to take the lead.

Auburn was able to move the ball on their next two drives but once again struggled when they crossed into Penn State territory.

On the first Finley was hit by a rusher, and his errant pass was picked off by a defender. On the next they marched right back into the redzone but were once again forced to come away with a field goal, making it a 7-6 Penn State lead.

That was as close as the game would get, Penn State responded with another touchdown drive to take a 14-6 lead with 1:46 left in the first half.

The Tigers looked to get back in the game after the break but went three-and-out and Penn State running back Nicholas Singleton put those hopes to bed. He ripped off a 53-yard run on their first play of the half and punched it into the endzone two plays later to give the Nittany Lions a 21-6 lead.

Looking to claw their way back into the game disaster struck on Auburn’s next two drives. On the next drive, Finley was pressured and stripped, giving the Nittany Lions the ball right back and setting them up for a field goal.

Ashford started the next drive and was able to lead the Tigers inside the Penn State 10-yard line before being sacked and throwing an interception to end the drive. The Nittany Lions once again took advantage of the turnover, marching down the field in eight plays to take a commanding 31-6 lead with 1:07 left in the third quarter.

The Tigers scored their first touchdowns of the game in the fourth quarter when [autotag]Jarquez Hunter[/autotag] caught a pass from Ashford and hurdled a defender to complete the 22-yard catch and run. The score made it 31-12 and Singleton responded with a 54-yard touchdown run to stop any momentum.

Auburn’s defense was unable to stand up to the Penn State offense in the second half, allowing them to score on five of their six second-half drives.

Auburn will have to regroup ahead of their SEC opener against Missouri (2-1) next Saturday in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

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How LSU transfers fared at their new schools in Week 1

From Arik Gilbert to Eli Ricks, here’s how former Tigers fared in Week 1.

LSU was busy in the transfer portal this offseason.

Much of that was because it lost quite a few guys, too. Throughout the coaching transition, there was a steady trickle of players leaving. That’s just how it goes when a new coach takes over.

Some of the losses hurt more than others, like [autotag]Eli Ricks[/autotag] and [autotag]Dwight McGlothern[/autotag]. There were some hits that LSU should have no trouble absorbing, like the loss of [autotag]Trey Palmer[/autotag], who left a crowded wide receiver room.

Not all of these transfers are from this cycle. There are guys like [autotag]Chris Curry[/autotag], now with Utah, who saw a steady dose of action on Saturday. Let’s take a look at how some former LSU players fared in their new uniforms.

Look: The best images from Saturday’s open practice

Here’s a look at the best images from Saturday’s practice at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Auburn football held an open practice on Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium, in an effort to give the public a chance to watch the team prepare for the season opener against Mercer next Saturday.

Fans got to see the team take part in several drills. They also had a chance to see the three candidates for the open quarterback job in live situations.

As we move into game week, one thing to watch for this week is the naming of a starting quarterback. No one knows for sure when the announcement will be made, but head coach [autotag]Bryan Harsin[/autotag] is set to host his game-week press conference on Monday afternoon.

While we await the decision, take a look at the best photos from Saturday’s open practice: