2023 Portal Discussion Thread

[AUINSY 2,228]

University of Auburn about to steal another one from us…dang those guys! Lol, glad to see we at least may have another good OLman coming. Just need a dang QB!

[AUwent 3,768]

20 minutes ago, TeamZero77 said:

I can't wait to see how everybody spins this if we don't get a QB from the portal. Our media and Auburn podcasters are steady moving the goalposts on this transfer QB situation. 

Back before the 1st portal opened, I was on here and said TJ Finley won't transfer or graduate in February and grad transfer to Louisiana to play with his brother. Use your brain; TJ and his parents are VERY vocal on social media and they don't shy away from telling everyone when TJ has been wronged, etc. TJ and his parents have NEVER said publically he is transferring. That is rumor and media spinning things. 

I also said that a transfer QB is going to go where the O-Line and WR's are established. We upgraded at O-Line but they were mainly G-5 players and our line has never played a snap together. They haven't gelled as a unit. Our WR room is just average. A transfer QB usually has 1 year left and is transferring because they want to catch the eye of NFL scouts. It's why Cam chose us over Miss. St. and why Russell Wilson chose Wisconsin over Auburn. Established O-line's with lots of snaps played together. That's the main reason we haven't attracted many transfer QB's imo. 

Months ago I said TJ would be on the roster for UMass game and we wouldn't get a QB in the portal. I got 3 pages of "you're stupid, we have 3 QB guru coaches on staff, we don't have any problems getting a really good QB in the portal. I got a ton of downvotes as well. Looks like alot of our fanbase are starting to see it how I've seen it. 

I would be completely baffled and highly concerned if we can't get one. WTH is going on?!

Edited April 17, 2023 by AUwent

[W.E.D 11,070]

34 minutes ago, TeamZero77 said:

Months ago I said TJ would be on the roster for UMass game and we wouldn't get a QB in the portal. I got 3 pages of "you're stupid,

Considering we would have gotten a top 3 QB transfer in McCall if he was good at school kinda makes your whole point moot.

[AUwent 3,768]

5 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

Considering we would have gotten a top 3 QB transfer in McCall if he was good at school kinda makes your whole point moot.

He was very confident that Helton was going to be our HC, so I hope that's a trend in the accuracy of his predictions lol.

As long as we have a ~top 12 class coming in, I'm okay with "just" making a bowl. With our current stable of QBs, I'm just not sure that's going to happen.

Edited April 17, 2023 by AUwent

[W.E.D 11,070]

4 minutes ago, AUwent said:

He was very confident that Helton was going to be our HC, so I hope that's a trend in the accuracy of his predictions lol.

As long as we have a ~top 12 class coming in, I'm okay with "just" making a bowl. With our current stable of QBs, I'm just not sure that's going to happen.

We have 4 cupcake out of conference games and Vandy. That's 5 wins. I can't see us going 1-7 in the SEC and missing a bowl

Edited April 17, 2023 by W.E.D

[metafour 4,969]

33 minutes ago, TeamZero77 said:

I can't wait to see how everybody spins this if we don't get a QB from the portal. Our media and Auburn podcasters are steady moving the goalposts on this transfer QB situation. 

Back before the 1st portal opened, I was on here and said TJ Finley won't transfer or graduate in February and grad transfer to Louisiana to play with his brother. Use your brain; TJ and his parents are VERY vocal on social media and they don't shy away from telling everyone when TJ has been wronged, etc. TJ and his parents have NEVER said publically he is transferring. That is rumor and media spinning things. 

I also said that a transfer QB is going to go where the O-Line and WR's are established. We upgraded at O-Line but they were mainly G-5 players and our line has never played a snap together. They haven't gelled as a unit. Our WR room is just average. A transfer QB usually has 1 year left and is transferring because they want to catch the eye of NFL scouts. It's why Cam chose us over Miss. St. and why Russell Wilson chose Wisconsin over Auburn. Established O-line's with lots of snaps played together. That's the main reason we haven't attracted many transfer QB's imo. 

Months ago I said TJ would be on the roster for UMass game and we wouldn't get a QB in the portal. I got 3 pages of "you're stupid, we have 3 QB guru coaches on staff, we don't have any problems getting a really good QB in the portal. I got a ton of downvotes as well. Looks like alot of our fanbase are starting to see it how I've seen it. 

 

Most of the 1-year eligibility guys would have already transferred in the first window. Why would they wait till the spring to transfer if their intention was to transfer at all?

Nobody said that we were hunting for a 1 year eligibility guy in this second window. There are a few that may be out there, but it's not many.

The post-spring window at QB will be for guys who are in heated QB battles and lose (or appear to be trailing), or for a highly talented young backup at a top program who we think is better than everyone we currently have.

The delay here is that MOST schools either just played their spring game yesterday, or they haven't even played it yet. Our spring game actually occurred much earlier than most teams.  A QB isn't going to transfer out before they conclude the spring at their current school and find out where on the depth chart they sit.

This is all going to take lots of tampering, by the way. The kid from Texas who just showed out at their spring game (Maalik Murphy) is someone who would be an easy target, but it would require convincing him to leave. One of the roadblocks is that schools like Ohio State who have two hyped young guys competing will delay and stall the naming of their starter in the hope of keeping both guys there till the fall in an "open competition",  in which case it's now too late for whoever they plan to be the backup to leave and join  a new team.

Anyway, there is too much panic over nothing. Most teams are still not through spring. There are still several schools that have options that could/will become available. Finding a QB will require brokering interest before their guy is even  "in the portal".

[AUwent 3,768]

5 minutes ago, metafour said:

 

Most of the 1-year eligibility guys would have already transferred in the first window. Why would they wait till the spring to transfer if their intention was to transfer at all?

Nobody said that we were hunting for a 1 year eligibility guy in this second window. There are a few that may be out there, but it's not many.

The post-spring window at QB will be for guys who are in heated QB battles and lose (or appear to be trailing), or for a highly talented young backup at a top program who we think is better than everyone we currently have.

The delay here is that MOST schools either just played their spring game yesterday, or they haven't even played it yet. Our spring game actually occurred much earlier than most teams.  A QB isn't going to transfer out before they conclude the spring at their current school and find out where on the depth chart they sit.

This is all going to take lots of tampering, by the way. The kid from Texas who just showed out at their spring game (Maalik Murphy) is someone who would be an easy target, but it would require convincing him to leave. One of the roadblocks is that schools like Ohio State who have two hyped young guys competing will delay and stall the naming of their starter in the hope of keeping both guys there till the fall in an "open competition",  in which case it's now too late for whoever they plan to be the backup to leave and join  a new team.

Anyway, there is too much panic over nothing. Most teams are still not through spring. There are still several schools that have options that could/will become available. Finding a QB will require brokering interest before their guy is even  "in the portal".

Given how weak our current group of QBs is, yeah, we should've gotten one in the first round.

[gr82b4au 5,568]

Sigh. Everyone knows we need a quarterback. The coaches are very aware. They are doing everything they can to find one. However, we cannot take a transfer quarter back if they are not in the portal and currently there are no good QBs in the portal. I mean, we can tamper and try to get people to enter the portal, which I am sure we are doing to a small degree, but you can only go so far. 

…and for those of you that said we should have picked a quarterback up in the first portal session, we tried. HF had been on the job only 6 freaking weeks. We thought we had a home run with McCall and that royally screwed us. Kentucky outbid us for the only other QB we really wanted. 

People want to get mad at the current QB situation- get mad at Gus and Harsin. HF has already proven he can recruit by bringing in a top HS QB for the future. 

One last thing- if you are an elite QB in college and you see our current WR room, would you want to transfer here? That is just another hurdle these coaches have to deal with thanks to the last staff. 

This is a mess and they are doing everything they can to fix it. 

[AuburnNTexas 7,171]

I am not going to sugar coat the fact that I wanted a quality QB but I am also not giving into the Doom and Gloom that some of you seem to have over our current QB room and the reason I am saying that is because HF is a straight shooter. At the beginning he was pretty clear that our QB's sucked unless previous coaches who used coach speak. Then about 3 weeks ago he started to praise Geriner as if the light had come on and he mentioned that RA was sore then last week of practice he said that RA was throwing well.  

Then we all saw the A-Day game in really bad conditions where the best WR that HF had mentioned all spring was out so we saw a really weak passing game and we relied on our running game. No way you can judge if a QB has improved enough to help us based on A-Day game. Do I think any of our QB's is what I would ideally like the answer is no. Do I still hope HF can find the right QB in the Portal the answer is yes.

That said I think with our coaches working with RA and Geriner this summer and into fall we could have a game manager type QB that combined with our schedule could and probably would get us into a bowl game. With what we had when HF arrived I didn't honestly think we had a snow balls change in Hades of getting to a bowl game.

I still want the right Portal QB I am also hoping for a stud Jack and a stud WR out of the Portal if we can get one of those I would be happy if we could get two of those I would be excited and if we could get all three of those I would be beyond elated. But even if all we get from the Portal are some depth pieces I am still really happy with what HF and staff have done in a short time.  Now whoever becomes our starting QB be a current player or a Portal QB lets hope that we design our offense that uses our RB effectively and takes advantage of whatever our QB strengths are while hiding that QB's weaknesses. The right Offensive game plan can change a lot of things. The only time in last few years I saw a game plan that fit our players was sadly when Caddy was Head coach and realized what RA's could do with his legs and designed around having a running QB.

Some people may have forgotten but RA actually played a decent game against bama in the Iron Bowl.

Edited April 17, 2023 by AuburnNTexas

[bigbird 60,580]

7 hours ago, metafour said:

find out where on the depth chart they sit

Those meetings are continuing this week

[Gowebb11 9,368]

6 hours ago, AuburnNTexas said:

I am not going to sugar coat the fact that I wanted a quality QB but I am also not giving into the Doom and Gloom that some of you seem to have over our current QB room and the reason I am saying that is because HF is a straight shooter. At the beginning he was pretty clear that our QB's sucked unless previous coaches who used coach speak. Then about 3 weeks ago he started to praise Geriner as if the light had come on and he mentioned that RA was sore then last week of practice he said that RA was throwing well.  

Then we all saw the A-Day game in really bad conditions where the best WR that HF had mentioned all spring was out so we saw a really weak passing game and we relied on our running game. No way you can judge if a QB has improved enough to help us based on A-Day game. Do I think any of our QB's is what I would ideally like the answer is no. Do I still hope HF can find the right QB in the Portal the answer is yes.

That said I think with our coaches working with RA and Geriner this summer and into fall we could have a game manager type QB that combined with our schedule could and probably would get us into a bowl game. With what we had when HF arrived I didn't honestly think we had a snow balls change in Hades of getting to a bowl game.

I still want the right Portal QB I am also hoping for a stud Jack and a stud WR out of the Portal if we can get one of those I would be happy if we could get two of those I would be excited and if we could get all three of those I would be beyond elated. But even if all we get from the Portal are some depth pieces I am still really happy with what HF and staff have done in a short time.  Now whoever becomes our starting QB be a current player or a Portal QB lets hope that we design our offense that uses our RB effectively and takes advantage of whatever our QB strengths are while hiding that QB's weaknesses. The right Offensive game plan can change a lot of things. The only time in last few years I saw a game plan that fit our players was sadly when Caddy was Head coach and realized what RA's could do with his legs and designed around having a running QB.

Some people may have forgotten but RA actually played a decent game against bama in the Iron Bowl.

Solid post. Geriner played all of 3 snaps last year but some insists on writing him off completely. 

[W.E.D 11,070]

1 hour ago, Gowebb11 said:

Solid post. Geriner played all of 3 snaps last year but some insists on writing him off completely. 

There is a massive gap between writing him off and understanding that 95% of RSFR, especially one's in brand new offenses, aren't ready to tale over

[DAG 34,016]

1 minute ago, W.E.D said:

There is a massive gap between writing him off and understanding that 95% of RSFR, especially one's in brand new offenses, aren't ready to tale over

You can say this all you want. These same guys will be complaining come fall if we start him and he doesn’t pan out. These same guys will be saying well why didn’t we get so and so and so.

Like I said Gus fooled me once , Harsin was the second time. I am not being fooled a third with spring ball positivity and wait and see. These dudes are not ready to start here. 

[DAG 34,016]

The key here is consistency . Not one good practice . Not he did good in skeleton drill but struggled in game situational reps. The guys we have , do not consistently perform in a very controlled environment and one thing I know freeze harps on is CONSISTENCY. Honestly , the truth is if we get an average guy in we will be okay. Ultimately , WW will be the Freeze domain and he will have a lot of pressure to come in and show out, unfortunately. 

[weagl1 1,789]

Every now and then we all seem to forget we have have some coaches now that can actually develop a QB.  Plus we have 2 guys who have a lot of potential.  I just can’t see Finley ever being a top QB but I’m not giving up on the other two.  Every now a then I see a flash of greatness from Ashford.  Geriner was a top recruit and he just needs a chance to develop.  Both of them have only had 15 practices with QB coaches who know what they are doing.  If a great one that is much further along in his development happens to pop up in the portal then by all means go get him it might get is another victory or two this year.  Otherwise continue to develop what we have they  both have a lot of potential they just need experience and you only gain that by playing.  

[AuCivilEng1 11,026]

After sleeping on it and thinking more about the situation for what it is, I feel a little better this morning. Hugh and company likely already know where we sit on the QB situation. They know who is going into the portal and who they have a shot at. If they aren't at least at that level, then its going to be a long season, because they don't do their preparations/research. Which I just don't think is the case with THIS Auburn staff. We as fans just have to trust the process and be patient, I guess. My hope is that a guy enters the portal and we grab him up and all of us look at the guy and say "oh ok that's why Hugh didn't settle in the winter".

*takes off orange and blue sunglasses and wipes the smudge off*

[AUnCullman 601]

8 hours ago, gr82b4au said:

Sigh. Everyone knows we need a quarterback. The coaches are very aware. They are doing everything they can to find one. However, we cannot take a transfer quarter back if they are not in the portal and currently there are no good QBs in the portal. I mean, we can tamper and try to get people to enter the portal, which I am sure we are doing to a small degree, but you can only go so far. 

…and for those of you that said we should have picked a quarterback up in the first portal session, we tried. HF had been on the job only 6 freaking weeks. We thought we had a home run with McCall and that royally screwed us. Kentucky outbid us for the only other QB we really wanted. 

People want to get mad at the current QB situation- get mad at Gus and Harsin. HF has already proven he can recruit by bringing in a top HS QB for the future. 

One last thing- if you are an elite QB in college and you see our current WR room, would you want to transfer here? That is just another hurdle these coaches have to deal with thanks to the last staff. 

This is a mess and they are doing everything they can to fix it. 

Best post in this entire thread... 🏆

[W.E.D 11,070]

43 minutes ago, weagl1 said:

Every now and then we all seem to forget we have have some coaches now that can actually develop a QB

They aren't magicians.  They didn't turn their previous players into elite talents in 3 months. They mostly had a full year+.

Let them sit and develop 

[ellitor 33,114]

11 hours ago, TeamZero77 said:

I can't wait to see how everybody spins this if we don't get a QB from the portal. Our media and Auburn podcasters are steady moving the goalposts on this transfer QB situation. 

Back before the 1st portal opened, I was on here and said TJ Finley won't transfer or graduate in February and grad transfer to Louisiana to play with his brother. Use your brain; TJ and his parents are VERY vocal on social media and they don't shy away from telling everyone when TJ has been wronged, etc. TJ and his parents have NEVER said publically he is transferring. That is rumor and media spinning things. 

I also said that a transfer QB is going to go where the O-Line and WR's are established. We upgraded at O-Line but they were mainly G-5 players and our line has never played a snap together. They haven't gelled as a unit. Our WR room is just average. A transfer QB usually has 1 year left and is transferring because they want to catch the eye of NFL scouts. It's why Cam chose us over Miss. St. and why Russell Wilson chose Wisconsin over Auburn. Established O-line's with lots of snaps played together. That's the main reason we haven't attracted many transfer QB's imo. 

Months ago I said TJ would be on the roster for UMass game and we wouldn't get a QB in the portal. I got 3 pages of "you're stupid, we have 3 QB guru coaches on staff, we don't have any problems getting a really good QB in the portal. I got a ton of downvotes as well. Looks like alot of our fanbase are starting to see it how I've seen it. 

@TeamZero77 You could end up being right but might want to let the race finish before taking your victory lap. Who knows, maybe the bragging hard on yourself reverse jinxes us to everything actually working out in the end.

[ellitor 33,114]

11 hours ago, AUwent said:

I'm okay with "just" making a bowl. With our current stable of QBs, I'm just not sure that's going to happen.

Look at our schedule. Barring a rash of injuries, there is no excuse for us to not make a bowl game this year, even with our bad QBs. Pretty sure HF would adjust & rely more on the run game.

[ellitor 33,114]

11 hours ago, W.E.D said:

We have 4 cupcake out of conference games and Vandy. That's 5 wins. I can't see us going 1-7 in the SEC and missing a bowl

Yup. Especially with both Mississippis at home.

[Cardin Drake 1,854]

I give HF a lot of credit for his recruiting acumen.  I think there is somebody out there like Maalik Murphy that he will bring in.  We have one thing that a kid like Murphy really wants-a clear path to the starting position at a top 20 program that is in the SEC. Coach Freeze can sell that and Auburn to the right guy.  And I haven't given up on RA.  The kid has real potential. We'll see. Way too soon for all this panic.  We are on the way up and that feels pretty good after a few years of heading in the wrong direction.

[AuCivilEng1 11,026]

41 minutes ago, ellitor said:

Look at our schedule. Barring a rash of injuries, there is no excuse for us to not make a bowl game this year, even with our bad QBs. Pretty sure HF would adjust & rely more on the run game.

We rarely get a favorable schedule. It would be nice to, you know, take advantage of it. If we don't at least win 8-9 games this year, I am going to consider it a disappointing season. There I said it!! 

[TeamZero77 1,785]

11 hours ago, W.E.D said:

Considering we would have gotten a top 3 QB transfer in McCall if he was good at school kinda makes your whole point moot.

And TJ is still on the roster and we still don't have a QB from the portal. We've been close on tons of players for years but until they suit up for Auburn, what does it matter? McCall isn't here.

[metafour 4,969]

2 hours ago, weagl1 said:

Every now and then we all seem to forget we have have some coaches now that can actually develop a QB.  Plus we have 2 guys who have a lot of potential.  I just can’t see Finley ever being a top QB but I’m not giving up on the other two.  Every now a then I see a flash of greatness from Ashford.  Geriner was a top recruit and he just needs a chance to develop.  Both of them have only had 15 practices with QB coaches who know what they are doing.  If a great one that is much further along in his development happens to pop up in the portal then by all means go get him it might get is another victory or two this year.  Otherwise continue to develop what we have they  both have a lot of potential they just need experience and you only gain that by playing.  

Here is your actual timeline on Robby Ashford's career:

1) Was hyped 4-star QB at Hoover entering his SR year. Has a poor SR season and falls to 3-star as his final rating on most sites.
2) Was committed to Ole Miss prior to Kiffin being hired, ends up flipping to Oregon to be the 2nd QB in their class after the coaching change at Ole Miss (Kiffin didn't want him?)
3) Year 1 at Oregon: Plays baseball for ~20 games, quits to focus on football completely. ~#4 on their QB depth chart.
4) Year 2 at Oregon: Doesn't make much movement on their depth chart. Stuck at #3 or #4 on the depth chart. Opts to transfer.
5) Year 1 at Auburn: Loses fall camp battle to TJ Finley. Would have been #3 on the depth chart had Calzada not been injured.
6) Year 1 at Auburn: Pushed onto the field as the season collapses. Plays "hard", but not very well.
7) Year 1 at Auburn: Doesn't show much if any improvement game to game as the season progressed. In fact, after Harsin was fired they had to change the offense completely in order to work around his deficiencies. His completion percentage was actually WORSE in the 2nd half of the season.
8 ) Year 2 at Auburn: Shows some "improvement", but leaves Spring camp without being named the starter. Freeze and company are still searching for QB's in the Portal. Keep in mind, he has now been through 3-4 Spring Camp sessions and has not once been able to actually "win" the starting job. He is in year #4 of his NCAA career and is not even technically the starter here.

 

If you actually read the above timeline and think objectively, there is absolutely nothing in Ashford's resume to suggest that this is the makings of an actual worthwhile SEC starting QB.

Hope and prayer that he makes some sort of drastic improvement is all there is. But really, a QB who has been training for 3+ years already in college under multiple P5 coaching staffs is more or less developed by this point.