The biggest questions for Auburn football heading into SEC Media Days

Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze recaps the Tigers' performance in the annual A-Day spring game on April 8.
Talking season is, once again, upon us.
Auburn football will take the podium, along with 13 other Southeastern Conference schools, this week in Nashville for SEC Media Days, doing so for the first time in the Hugh Freeze era. Along with Freeze, it’ll be tight end Luke Deal, transfer edge rusher Elijah McAllister and offensive lineman Kam Stutts representing the program July 18 in the Music City.
It’s a group of names that would’ve been relatively unexpected this time a year ago, for one reason or another, most notably because the program was in an entirely different place with a different coach heading into media days.
Two of this year’s player representatives were reserves on the Plains last season, and the other was a face on an opposing league defense. But the trio of Deal, McAllister and Stutts finds themselves speaking on behalf of one of many football teams in the league that has several looming questions heading into the season.
This year’s SEC outlook seems more of a tossup than in years past, with defending national champion Georgia being the clear favorite to come out of the league on top. Beyond the Bulldogs, the rest of the league looks muddy, and Auburn finds itself right in the midst of that.
As the Tigers get set to usher in a new era, here’s a few of the biggest questions looking nearly a month out from kickoff.
Will it be an intense battle for QB1?
3.27 Auburn football practice
Quarterback Robby Ashford (9) throws during a drill. Auburn football practice on Monday, March 27 at the Woltosz Center.
Adam Sparks /
It may have taken a few months, but Freeze presumptively got his guy at quarterback with the transfer of Michigan State passer Payton Thorne in May. But that doesn’t mean Auburn’s fall camp will be without competition under center.
Thorne enters a quarterback room with three other scholarship quarterbacks occupying it, the most notable of which is last year’s starter Robby Ashford.
The former Hoover product and blue-chipper came to Auburn last season after two years at Oregon in which he didn’t record a snap. While TJ Finley was named Auburn’s Week One starter, Ashford eventually transitioned into the role against Missouri and never left it. He made his first nine career starts and did so while playing through injury, he said, first suffering a sprained AC joint in his shoulder during that first start.
Ashford proved himself to be a dependable rushing option, generating 710 yards, which was second-most on the team. He was somewhat questionable through the air, though, completing less than half his passes while throwing as many interceptions as touchdowns.
But Auburn will look a lot different this season, especially on offense. An overhauled offensive line and retooled receiving corp should give whoever is commanding the offense for Auburn more protection and weapons.
Does that spell more competition at the position with more resources? It certainly could, especially as Freeze indicated in April that the competition could spill into the regular season. While those comments were made before Thorne’s transfer, they also spoke to Ashford’s style of play.
“I truthfully don’t think you ever have the greatest judge in practice,” Freeze said April 27. “I didn’t know (Liberty quarterback) Malik Willis was going to be what he was until we started playing games. ... Bo Wallace was the worst practice quarterback that I ever had at Ole Miss, and the guy turned (out to be) maybe the most important recruit I had in the first year.”
Which transfers will make an impact?
SWAC Championship Football
Auburn added nearly enough players via the transfer portal in the offseason to field an entire depth chart string, but with 19 new bodies taking the field for fall camp, it’s unlikely all of them will start in the fall.
So who’s the who’s who of Auburn’s transfer haul?
Eleven of those 19 players committed to the program before spring practices, meaning the majority of the group has already had a bit of exposure to the program and experience in this coaching staff’s freshly laid systems.
Players like tight end Rivaldo Fairweather, linebacker Austin Keys and all of the first portal period’s pickups on the offensive and defensive line got ample work and are likely candidates to majorly contribute. The bigger question is which of Auburn’s eight transfers from the second portal period could be in the same boat?
Former Tulsa offensive lineman Jaden Muskrat and former North Texas linebacker Larry Nixon III both seem like plausible options. Both got ample experience at their previous stops in positions of need for the Tigers, and Muskrat is all that while having played for offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery, who was his head coach at Tulsa.
The most exciting of the bunch may be the last player to commit to Auburn in former Jackson State receiver Shane Hooks, whose history indicates he’s more than just an awesome last name.
After spending three seasons at Ohio, Hooks transferred to Jackson State and became the program’s leading receiver while playing two seasons for Deion Sanders. He caught 82 passes for 974 yards (11.9 yards per catch) and 12 touchdowns. Not only is Hooks experienced, he’s sizable at 6-foot-5 and has produced.
Hooks is just one example of some transfers who excite on history alone and will be interesting to track throughout the fall. There’s also USF transfer Brian Battie, and transfer receivers Jyaire Shorter and Caleb Burton who fall into that category, and that’s just on one side of the ball.
Where does Auburn fit in the scope of the SEC?
Auburn at Georgia
It seems consensus that Georgia is absolutely the favorite at the top of this year’s, but what comes after the Dawgs?
LSU was able to swoop in and win the SEC West in Brian Kelly’s first season, and it’ll look to repeat that as Alabama and Nick Saban attempt to replace Bryce Young. On the other side of the conference, Tennessee will try to maintain the success it found last season while also replacing its passer, Hendon Hooker. There’s another six programs that also maintained starting quarterbacks from a year ago, and that’s on top of the likes of Kentucky bringing in a touted passer like Devin Leary to command the offense.
So that leaves Auburn, well, somewhere in the middle of it at least.
It’s an odd situation. While there’s one favorite to win the conference, it doesn’t feel like there’s a clear favorite to come in last or sit at the bottom of league standings. Vanderbilt and Missouri would both be plausible, but the former was on the upswing last fall and the latter returns a promising, experienced defense.
Ultimately, while Auburn could finish anywhere from second to sixth place in the West, it seems in a favorable enough position to be on the better end of those standings. And it’s set up for preseason intrigue regardless.
While the most obvious topic in Nashville will be Auburn’s new head coach, it’s also a program that’s brought in another option at quarterback, has totally retooled its offensive line and receiving corps, and also brings experience in notable spots on the other side of the ball.
That should be more than enough for a good, if not interesting, run this season.