Auburn football QB situation somehow just got substantially worse

TJ Finley will be hitting the transfer portal after spending the last two seasons at Auburn.

While TJ Finley went about this the right way, the Auburn quarterback room looks to be in very rough shape heading into fall camp for new head coach Hugh Freeze.

Finley may have only been a three-star coming out of his native Louisiana, but he has remained a fixture in the SEC over the last few years. He initially played for his home state’s LSU Tigers before switching Tiger Bowl allegiances to Auburn two years ago. Although he played some for Auburn, his time down on The Plains coincided with the Bryan Harsin unmitigated disaster. It was awful…

Here is Finley tweeting out to War Eagle Nation about his intentions to transfer after graduating.

This is the right call for him personally, as he will get his degree from Auburn University and will be eligible to play right away. He may not have emerged as the Tigers’ starter with Robby Ashford as the incumbent, but the only other scholarship quarterback on roster is Holden Geriner. Look for Freeze to pick up a player in the portal last minute. Otherwise, 2023 could be so rough for them…

Freeze might be able to bring Auburn back to prominence, but are we sure they even go bowling?

TJ Finley hitting transfer portal will make Hugh Freeze’s first Auburn season hard

Finley could look to return to his native Louisiana in his second trip into the portal. There are options to be had, whether that be Louisiana, Louisiana Tech or even Tulane. However, those schools all compete at the Group of Five level. Up to this point, Finley has been an SEC guy. If he wants to start at this point of his career, he may have to bite the bullet and head to the Sun Belt.

Will Freeze pick up a quarterback in the portal? Most definitely. However, what I would do if I were him is have Ashford and Geriner compete down to the wire for the starting job, only to tell one of them they got it minutes before kickoff in Week 1. Competition is the best thing to solve this AU dilemma. What is important though is for the Tigers to have depth to navigate Finley’s departure.

Look. The Tigers hiring Freeze was incredibly controversial. It was not that long ago he was ousted from Ole Miss for scandalous reasons. People will forgive, but they don’t forget. Freeze may have done a mighty fine job over at Liberty, but the SEC is a completely different animal. Divisions will go away once Oklahoma and Texas arrive, but these are two top-15 programs all time coming in.

Not to say that I expected for Auburn to pop in year one under Freeze, but the Tigers are probably not going to be this year’s equivalent of 2022 TCU or Gus Malzahn’s first team at the helm of the program a decade ago. In time, Freeze could get this thing right down on The Plains. However, rebuilding is difficult and it is an especially painful endeavor to take part of over in SEC Country.

May Finley find the right school for him, while Freeze finds the right replacement in the portal.