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Auburn’s choice to start improved TJ Finley makes sense … but the race might not be over
By Les East
Published:
TJ Finley is going to be Auburn’s starting quarterback.
The revelation Sunday that Finley will be under center when the Tigers start the season against Mercer on Saturday in Jordan-Hare Stadium wasn’t a foregone conclusion, but it shouldn’t have been surprising.
Former Texas A&M starter Zach Calzada might have been seen as the favorite when he arrived through the transfer portal, and another transfer, Robby Ashford from Oregon, was another strong competitor.
But Finley had a lot going for him – as he always has from the time he arrived at LSU in 2020 as a 3-star recruit from Ponchatoula (La.) High School.
At 6-7, 250 pounds Finley has a strong arm and is difficult to tackle. And he has more going for him.
One additional asset was continuity. Finley was the only current quarterback on coach Bryan Harsin’s first Auburn team last season. He even started the last 3 games in place of injured Bo Nix, who transferred to Oregon after last season.
There’s more.
Though Finley has never been a full-time starter in college he has plenty of experience at earning playing time through internal competition.
As a true freshman at LSU in 2020 he emerged from preseason camp as essentially a co-No. 2 (with Max Johnson) after veteran Myles Brennan earned the opportunity to succeed Joe Burrow and become the quarterback of the defending CFP champions.
When a core muscle injury ended Brennan’s season after 3 games, the Finley vs. Johnson competition resumed. It stretched from 1 week to 2 after the game against Florida was postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the Gators program.
A week later Finley was named the starter against South Carolina, though it was expected that Johnson would play significant snaps. But Finley got off to fast start, driving the Tigers to his touchdown run on the game’s first possession, and Johnson was relegated to mop-up duty and didn’t throw a pass in LSU’s 52-24 romp. Finley completed 17-of-21 passes for 265 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Finley started the next 4 games, but inconsistency and inadequate ball security moved him to the bench in Johnson’s favor for the final 2 games of the season.
When Finley found himself behind Johnson and a healthy Brennan last offseason, he entered the transfer portal and settled on Auburn.
It wasn’t surprising when Nix maintained his role as the starter as last season began, but Finley cast a large shadow – literally and figuratively – from the sidelines.
He saved what would have been a disastrous loss when he relieved Nix against Georgia State and guided a 98-yard drive that culminated with his 4th-down, 10-yard touchdown pass for the game-winning points with 45 seconds remaining.
Finley wound up completing 70-of-128 passes for 827 yards with 6 touchdowns and 1 interception last season. The touchdown-interception ratio represented significant improvement over his performance at LSU, where he had 5 touchdowns and 5 interceptions.
Those numbers reflected improved decision-making, which was consistent with Harsin’s praise of Finley’s improvement during this preseason camp.
Coincidentally, Finley’s first start at Auburn came against the same opponent as his first start at LSU (South Carolina), though the outcome was different as the Gamecocks defeated Auburn.
In fact, none of Finley’s starts last season went the way Auburn would have liked as the team lost all 3 games, though Auburn very nearly pulled what would have been a huge upset in the Iron Bowl, which ended with Alabama prevailing 24-22 in 4 overtimes. Given the stakes, Finley played pretty well, too, throwing 2 TD passes against just 1 interception and had the Tigers in position to pull off the upset.
Finley has won quarterback competitions before. As a starter, he has had some success amid consistency.
But he has demonstrated perseverance, improvement and maturation.
His latest opportunity to start doesn’t come with any more guarantees than his other 2 did.
And Harsin still has viable options waiting in the wings in Ashford and Calzada.
The coach made a sensible choice in selecting Finley.
Now it’s up to Finley to show he’s worthy of hanging on to the starting position for an extended period of time.
Les East is a New Orleans-based football writer who covers LSU for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow him on Twitter @Les_East.
