It’s OK to be intrigued by Robby Ashford. I certainly am.

It’s OK to be intrigued by someone who participated in his first spring game and looked pretty good in the process (he probably would’ve looked even better if he was live instead of being ruled down every time he was touched). It’s OK to be intrigued by someone who spent his first 2 seasons at Oregon and didn’t play a snap while he was trying to be a 2-sport star in baseball and football. It’s OK to be intrigued by a quarterback who showed promise in a controlled setting.

We can acknowledge all of these things while asking the only question that really matters — can Ashford be Auburn’s QB1?

The title of “QB1” hasn’t really been open at Auburn since 2019. The last time Auburn had a quarterback battle was 2019. It ended with Bo Nix being the guy with Joey Gatewood as the backup … and future first-round pick Malik Willis hit the transfer portal.

Too soon?

That doesn’t matter now. What does matter is that for the first time since the Gerald Ford administration, Auburn won’t have Nix as its QB1 (slight exaggeration). Saturday’s spring game was one of the first real showings of Ashford.

Before we continue with the Ashford breakdown, yes, Zach Calzada will have a say in this battle. The A&M quarterback has been nursing a shoulder injury in the spring, so the battle on Saturday was essentially a 2-horse race with Ashford and TJ Finley.

Speaking of Finley, he’s part of why there should be Ashford intrigue. Finley is the known and Ashford is the unknown.

We know that in 2 seasons at LSU and Auburn, Finley averaged 6.6 yards per attempt and had a 120.6 quarterback rating while offering little in the rushing game. We know that Finley has strengths (stepping into throws when given time) and he has weaknesses (diagnosing pressure and improvising).

What we don’t know about Ashford is, again, intriguing. We don’t know how much the Pac-12’s herky-jerky 2020 season impacted his ability to get reps and develop. We don’t know if Ashford could’ve had a better chance of seeing the field if he had focused strictly on football. Most importantly, we don’t know how he’s going to look against SEC competition in live action when the bright lights of the fall are shining.

Bryan Harsin is still finding out a lot about Ashford. One would think that seeing him sling a dart to Ze’Vian Capers over the middle helped, and it’s probably not a bad thing that Harsin said afterward that Ashford could’ve made more plays if he had been live.

Of course, though, any intrigue from Harsin will be kept private. Expect these types of comments deep into fall.

Is that … sarcasm? Perhaps a bit. Or perhaps it’s just an acknowledgment that a spring scrimmage being the determining factor for Harsin’s most important decision yet would be foolish.

To be clear, this is Harsin’s biggest decision yet. You can’t have an offseason like he had and assume that the powers above him will be unconditionally supportive. It’s cliché, but this has to be about winning games in 2022.

If Harsin feels that Ashford is still a project and he’ll make too many detrimental mistakes, he won’t be the guy. If Harsin feels like Ashford’s mobility could complement a questionable offensive line better than the less-mobile Finley or Calzada, well, the Oregon transfer will be the guy.

At no point in making this decision should it matter that Oregon had 3 quarterbacks take snaps in 2021 and Ashford wasn’t one of them. That was based on the evaluation of the Oregon coaching staff. They might not have even been wrong in making that assessment. All that matters for Harsin now is who Ashford can be in 2022.

Back in his home state of Alabama, the former Hoover High star capitalized on getting a side-by-side with Finley. Ashford told The War Rapport that he appreciated the 2 years that he had at Oregon, but that he wanted to return to the South. The former Ole Miss commit — he opened up his commitment after Matt Luke was fired at the end of the 2019 season — could benefit from a change of scenery and a focus on football.

Sure, maybe Harsin went out and landed Calzada after Ashford’s commitment because he didn’t know what to expect from the former Oregon signal-caller. It was low risk because Ashford still has 4 years of eligibility left. Some, myself included, considered him more of a project and that the starting job would be decided by 2 guys who started significant games in the SEC already.

Maybe that’ll ultimately be the case. But Ashford’s intrigue level reached new heights following his spring game showing.

And if Auburn is somehow gonna have one of “those” years, there’s a world in which Ashford is the driving force behind it.