Auburn must get production from transfer additions early in 2023

On3’s J.D. PicKell has stood firm on his stance that the Auburn Tigers are the great mystery of the upcoming 2023 SEC football year. To be competitive this season in Hugh Freeze‘s first year, Auburn must put everything together quickly. And while there are many concerns about the Tigers roster, they do have arguably an essential piece already set, loads of talent on both sides of the football.

“Now Auburn, talking about talent; they went to work in the transfer portal. Over 20 individuals headed to Auburn, AL, to help Hugh Freeze turn that thing around,” said PicKell. “And there’s a lot of warranted hope in Auburn, AL, but the reality is that hope is built on a lot of players that just transferred to Auburn, AL. And one of those players, probably the most important player in that transfer portal class, is Peyton Thorne, quarterback transfer from Michigan State. Played a lot of football (and) was a two-year captain at Michigan State. Like, dude can play some football now. Even more importantly, dude’s a leader, which I think you need in that locker room under a new staff.

“But he missed all of spring practice. I cannot express adequately enough how difficult it is to learn an entire offensive system in the stretch between after spring ball until fall camp, which is as long as he will have to work with. So we’re all on the same page.”

Thorne is expected to earn the starting nod over last year’s starter Robby Ashford. Of the two quarterbacks, the 6-foot-2 junior from Naperville, IL, is the more experienced with strong leadership qualities. Despite that, Ashford still has a genuine opportunity to commandeer the starting spot, at least for the season’s first game, because of Thorne’s absence in the spring.

Now, while the trajectory of Auburn’s 2023 season is a mystery to PicKell, their chances of making noise in the SEC are strong. Whether they win six games or nine games remains to be seen. But in the process, Auburn could derail the hopes and dreams of other schools within their conference with aspirations of winning the conference title and earning a spot in the College Football Playoff.

It might be a challenging schedule, but the Tigers play the three programs favored to win the SEC this season: the reigning champs, the Georgia Bulldogs, the LSU Tigers, and their in-state rival, the Alabama Crimson Tide.

“For Auburn, all the talent and all that they have on that roster; I just wonder what the impacts going to be. Because to be real, Auburn could mess around and win nine games. They have that now on the roster. This is not last year’s Auburn team. They’ve revamped the entire system. A lot of those cats they got transferring in, they’re going to ask to start day one. Simple as that.

“So if Auburn does end up putting it together; look at the ripple effect for them in 2023. Look at what they could do, (and) look at who they play. They play Georgia, Ole Miss, (and) Alabama all at Jordan Hare. Those are massive games. That’s a massive impact they could make on, not just the SEC conference race; look at the College Football Playoff race also. They go to LSU. Depending on how they put it together, how those transfers mesh with that staff, and how quickly Peyton Thorne is up to speed, Auburn’s going to be a team that is very much so in the wild card category when it comes to the Southeastern Conference.”

The Auburn Tigers have an opportunity to be the surprise team of the SEC this season, similar to LSU last year in their first year under Brian Kelly. Freeze has done an excellent job recruiting out of the transfer portal and has put together a solid group of talent. Now, if he can get them to play the same sheet of music in 2023, Auburn is destined for big things in the upcoming season.