Auburn, AL: It is the start of a new game week and once again the media descended upon the Auburn athletics complex to hear from Coach Bryan Harsin and select players at their Monday press conference. Feeling like a scene out of Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day, once again the main topic of discussion in the press conference was the quarterback position. On Saturday in a 41-12 loss to Penn State, quarterbacks T.J. Finley and Robby Ashford combined for a total of 296 passing yards, completing 21 of 38 pass attempts. Both also struggled with turnovers, with both throwing a interception and T.J. Finley fumbling twice, losing the ball once.
“We’ll see…We’ll let guys compete this week. It’s Monday, we haven’t decided that what were gonna do. Through the week of practice that will be decided...we’ll put the best guys out there on Saturday to go play,” was the response from Harsin when asked if T.J. Finley would remain the starter and the possibility of Zach Calzada and Holden Geriner.
The big question surrounding the quarterbacks for this matchup is the health of T.J. Finley and Robby Ashford. Both seemed to be in some pain during and after the Penn State game on Saturday, so there was some concern about their status going into the Missouri game this Saturday.
“Yeah they’re good. They’re good…they weren’t the only two (in pain) … it's football,” Harsin said when asked about the health of the two highest quarterbacks on his depth chart going into this week.
The final question coach Bryan Harsin was asked ended up being the one that caused the media to be most shocked. It has been speculated that since he has arrived in Auburn that transfer quarterback Zach Calzada has not been fully healthy. Harsin and staff chose to not give him any reps in the fourth quarter versus Penn State after both quarterbacks above him struggled throughout the game.
“You know something I don’t?” Harsin said in response to the question asking about Calzada’s health, a response not typically said by coaches when being asked about the health of certain players.
“He’s competed like everybody else and those guys every single week those guys get opportunities and we try to play the best players,” Harsin said following up his first response to the question about Zach Calzada’s health.
With the question of who the starting quarterback for Auburn will be still up in the air, the Tigers enter a week of practice to try and prepare for the Missouri Tigers as they come to Jordan-Hare Stadium for the first time on Saturday at 11:00 AM on ESPN.
