Hugh Freeze discusses Auburn’s QB situation going into Week 10 game
By Rolando Rosa
Published:
Auburn won’t tip its hand as to who’ll be the starting quarterback heading into its Week 10 contest vs. visiting Kentucky. Late in the second quarter during Auburn‘s 33-24 victory at Arkansas, head coach Hugh Freeze replaced Jackson Arnold with Ashton Daniels.
Daniels went on to complete 6 of his 8 passes for 77 yards while also rushing for 35 yards en route to helping Auburn earn its first SEC win of the season. Arnold was 7-for-12 with 73 yards, a touchdown, and an interception before being benched.
During his Monday press conference, Freeze explained that the starting spot will be earned through practice this week.
“There is no greater motivator than competition. That’s what it is. It’s an open competition to see who prepares and plays the best,” Freeze said. “They both will split reps. Then we will make a decision.”
Freeze was impressed with Daniels’ performance.
“There’s a lot of good things that both did. I thought Ashton showed an incredible amount of poise. Really only graded him on 2 minuses,” Freeze said. “I thought he showed great poise and leadership in a difficult time to come in the game when the momentum had totally shifted the other way. Thought he gave us a spark.”
Freeze added that he saw some positives with Arnold prior to benching him.
“Up until Jackson’s interception, I thought he played really, really well up until that point,” Freeze said.
Freeze is looking forward to how both quarterbacks react to the challenge.
“It’ll be exciting to see how they both respond and compete this week as we head into this game,” Freeze said.
Kentucky at Auburn is set for Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m. ET (SEC Network).
