Auburn QB Battle: Auburn to preserve Ashton Daniels redshirt, will play Jackson Arnold, Deuce Knight

Auburn QB Ashton Daniels has appeared in three games this season. That in mind, the Tigers are making a decision on him to ensure he can come back to college football next fall.

On Monday, D.J. Durkin announced that Daniels will not play this weekend in order to maintain his redshirt for this season. Durkin said it’s the choice that they came to considering it’s what’s best for him to get that additional year, and it’s the best thing for the program as well.

“I feel you have a great responsibility as a head coach to do what is best for your football team and your program at all times. That’s what you’re hired to do. That’s what you need to do. I also feel you have a great responsibility to the young men that you coach and their families to do what is best for them. Any time you can kind of thread that needle where those two things align together? Obviously, that’s the best and what makes it work, and, I think, in this case, we have that,” said Durkin. “I think the best thing for Ashton is to be able to preserve his redshirt year and be able to come back and play another year. I think it’s tremendous for this program, and also for him. I think he has great football ahead of him. And so, we are going to do that. He will not play in this game so that he can keep that redshirt year.”

“Yeah, Ashton is like – that guy, he’s a dude, man. Like, he just, he honestly, whatever we would have said, like, hey, this is the plan, this is what we’re going to do, he would have been one hundred percent with it and full speed ahead and not flinched,” Durkin said of Daniel’s reaction to this news. “I think he’s just a tremendous person, great character, great teammates. His teammates know that. They feel that. You can see how the guys rally around him. He’s amazing.”

After transferring this offseason from Stanford, Daniels appeared in the last three games for Auburn, as he checked in off the sideline against Arkansas before starting against Kentucky and Vanderbilt. He was 50-80 (62.5%) in those conference outings for 179.3 passing yards per game, two touchdowns, and an interception, while also rushing for 57.3 yards per game and two more scores. That includes one of the best games of his career in his last appearance, following the coaching change as well, as he was 31-44 (70.5%) for 353 yards and both touchdown throws, along with 89 yards and two more scores in the 45-38 OT loss to the Commodores.

With that, it means they’ll see snaps at quarterback for both of QB Jackson Arnold and QB Deuce Knight against Mercer on Saturday. Auburn will better determine what that looks like over the course of this week beyond that “both are going to play in the game”, but Durkin says everyone is excited for each of those quarterbacks to get a chance to take the field this weekend versus the Bears.

“Both those guys are going to play in this game, Jackson and Deuce. And, we’re going to, you know, go through the practice week and kind of sort out what exactly that looks like,” said Durkin. “But, I met with them both yesterday. They’re both tremendously excited about this.”

“I feel like, you know, Deuce has a lot of great football ahead of him. He hasn’t had that opportunity, but he’s going to get that opportunity. And, you could just tell a difference. We practiced last night. You could tell a difference in him right there. And, I think the same with Jackson. Jackson is a tremendously talented guy,” Durkin said. “We’re going to put a great plan together for both of these guys to have success. And, I told their teammates that it’s their job to rally around them too, and I know those guys will. I feel strongly about that, so I’m looking forward to how the entire team responds behind those guys.”

It’s uncertain what the future will look like for Daniels. An option for him, though, will now be another year in college because of this decision down on The Plains.

“Again, I just think it’s clearly the right thing to do,” said Durkin.

“I think it’s very clear what the right thing to do is. That’s why we’re doing it,” Durkin said.