AUBURN | Whether it’s three weeks, two weeks or 10 days before the opener, Bryan Harsin won’t be going into preseason practice with a timeline for choosing a starting quarterback.
The only real deadline is when preparations officially begin for the Mercer game Sept. 3.
“I usually say it’s about 10 days out is kind of where it’s happened, but we’ll name a starter when it’s right,” said Harsin. “There will be a time in camp when everybody knows, and then it’s just a matter of how we want to roll it out. So, we’ll know before you guys know, and then we’ll figure out how we roll it out and how we want that whole thing to go.
“When you do decide who the quarterback’s going to be, that’s a big moment. Everybody’s going to make a big deal out of it, and that particular player is going to have to handle that; the other guys are going to have to handle that. You want to do it the right way.”
Harsin and offensive coordinator Eric Kiesau will enter preseason practice with four viable candidates. Junior T.J. Finley, a former LSU transfer, threw the game-winning pass against Georgia State last September and then came on for an injured Bo Nix to start the final three games of the season.
In nine total games, Finley completed 70 of 128 passes (54.7 percent) for 827 yards with six touchdowns and one interception.
Joining the competition this spring were Texas A&M transfer Zach Calzada, Oregon transfer Robby Ashford and true freshman Holden Geriner.
Ashford was named A-Day offensive MVP after completing 12 of 16 passes for 132 yards for the second-team offense against the first-team defense.
Finley was 11 of 19 for 137 yards and a touchdown leading the first-team offense against the second-team defense. Geriner, mainly working with the third-team, completed 9 of 11 passes including a late touchdown.
Calzada didn't participate in the spring game due to an injury to his non-throwing shoulder, but was cleared for full contact earlier this summer. As the starter for the Aggies last fall, he completed 184 of 327 passes (56.3 percent) for 2,185 yards with 17 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
“They’re a lot further than what they were in the spring,” said Harsin last Thursday at SEC Media Days. “Those guys are all getting opportunities to get out there and maximize the summer and a chance for those guys to run some of the plays and go back through the install we did in the spring. That’s been good.
“But those guys, they’ve really, I think, taken the next step in the film room. We know they can throw, they can run, they can do all those things. There’s the physical component to it, but it’s really the mental side, and I feel like our preparation and the study habits that Coach Kiesau has implemented—we’re just further along in those areas.”
Harsin isn’t ruling out using more than one quarterback this season. Ashford is the most athletic of the group. He didn’t play in two years at Oregon, but rushed for 870 yards and eight touchdowns as a starter at Hoover (Ala.) High.
He’s also a standout baseball player playing in 20 games for the Ducks in 2021.
“It’s not like I haven’t done that in the past, where you got another guy that also comes in and plays and is a part of it, maybe in a package and some other things,” said Harsin. “We haven’t determined that yet, but when we do, we’ll roll it out, we’ll make it really good for whoever that starter is, and obviously we want to be respectful to the backups because they’re one play away. Those guys are also competing and want to be in that role, but we have to decide what that’s going to look like.”
Preseason practice begins Aug. 5.
