TIGERS OFFENSE: Finley earns starting quarterback role for Auburn

T.J. Finley will be under center for the Auburn Tigers this Saturday against Mercer. (Courtesy Auburn University Athletic Dept.)

By TIM GAYLE

T.J. Finley will take the helm as Auburn’s starting quarterback this weekend as the Tigers open the season at home against Mercer. 

Is that good or bad? 

Auburn coach Bryan Harsin announced earlier this week that Finley would be the starting quarterback, acknowledging that the decision wasn’t shocking after Finley practiced with the first-team throughout the preseason. 

“T.J. has earned it,” Harsin said. “Those other quarterbacks, they all competed. They're not going to stop competing. They're not going to stop working. They're not going to stop trying to prepare to go out there and play because they all know you're one play away.”

Auburn fans were interested in the competition among Finley, Texas A&M transfer Zach Calzada and Oregon transfer Robby Ashford. And more than a few will be disappointed in the choice of Finley, who stepped in for the injured Bo Nix a year ago as the wheels were falling off the Auburn offense and led the team to an 0-3 finish in his three starts. 

Finley, however, insists he is a different quarterback in 2022 after Harsin held an open competition and declared Finley the winner.

“When your head coach tells you that you’re the guy we’re rolling the carpet out with, it definitely brings a level of confidence,” he said. “The confidence piece is a big thing in football because like you saw last year, I wasn’t mentally ready last year, nor was I physically ready, to take that job after Bo got injured. I had to be that role because I was the backup. I did some observations after the season, and mentally I wasn’t where I needed to be to lead this team to finish the season out strong. But I strongly believe I’m there this year.”

Finley, in fact, is predicting big things from an Auburn squad picked by some to finish last in the Southeastern Conference West Division.   

“It felt amazing to get the news, but the job isn’t done,” Finley said. “I didn’t come here just to win a starting job. I came here to lead this team and win an SEC championship and a national championship.”

While the quarterbacks go through practice wearing non-contact jerseys, Harsin said Finley demonstrated the “toughness” it takes to be a starting quarterback in the Southeastern Conference.   

“I think that's one of the key ingredients to being successful in that position,” Harsin said. “It’s really hard to gauge that in practice because you don’t hit your quarterbacks. You have to be able to handle all the ups and downs of the game. You have to be able to lock in in order to do your job and call the plays. You have to get yourself up really quickly when you get knocked down. Those are all things to me, in my experience watching the best play that position, I think that’s one of the number one things they’ve had, just the toughness piece.” 

Finley completed 54.7 percent of his passes last year (70 of 128) for 827 yards, but threw just one interception.

“You want to be in that 60-plus percent range as a quarterback,” Harsin said. “The accuracy piece is better, just his overall mechanics.”

The junior was 53 of 95 (55.8 percent) as a starter, throwing for 552 yards and four touchdowns. 

On paper, his greatest competition would be Calzada, the former Texas A&M starter, but the sophomore finished third in the competition. 

“He was sort of still catching up with a shoulder injury in the spring,” Harsin said. “He has things to work on, so does everybody else on our football team, but for all the guys that aren't in the starting role, keep your head up because it changes so quickly.”

Calzada was 184 of 327 for 2,185 yards and 17 touchdowns last year while throwing nine interceptions. Those statistics under fire in SEC competition seemed to give him an edge, especially over Ashford, a redshirt freshman who transferred from Oregon. The former Hoover High standout has never played collegiately in two years at Oregon, but finished second in the quarterback battle at Auburn.

“I’m really proud of Robby,” Harsin said. “I think he’s come a long way as far as his development and his understanding of what we’re doing. I think Robby is very talented, and he’ll continue that, too. That’s the one thing about where Robby's at right now. Robby’s not going to stop developing.”

All three may get the opportunity to play this weekend. The Tigers are a 31.5-point favorite over the Bears.