Bryan Harsin reveals how TJ Finley how grown, elevated Auburn quarterback room

Bryan Harsin wants a mature quarterback to lead the charge into 2022 for his Auburn Tigers, and feels like he has three guys who can get the job done. Now, it’s only a matter of which gunslinger can get it done. TJ Finley, Zach Calzada or Robby Ashford?

Harsin and company haven’t announced a decision regarding Auburn’s Week One starter, but has said him and his staff are nearing a decision. In the case of Finley, however, he seems to have all of the intangibles Harsin desires in his starting signal caller.

“TJ has got like a coach’s mentality. He sees things out there that just not everybody conceptually picks things up very quickly,” Harsin said of Finley. “It takes a little bit of time, and he’s got that mentality that just some guys have it, some guy takes more time than others, like you’ll figure it out, but we all know that we’re all good at something and sometimes guys are really good at football and kind of just seeing it.

“A couple examples in the scrimmage – he sees we get to play in late, the clocks running down, it’s going to be a timeout situation where he’s getting everybody lined up and getting the snap count to what it needs to be so we can get the play off and then executing the plays – so it’s not a panic. He’s just doing it with urgency and gets everybody lined up and then bang, we convert third down and none. Those are things to me that I think he does a really good job of, physically.”

Finley came in as Auburn’s starter for the final three games of the 2021 season after former quarterback Bo Nix sustained an ankle injury that required surgery. The Tigers went 0-3 with Finley at the helm, but never lost a game by more than one score, forcing No. 3 Alabama into a four-overtime Iron Bowl thriller in the regular season finale before dropping the Birmingham Bowl to No.24 Houston 17-13. He would go on to finish last season with 827 passing yards, six touchdowns and one interception.

Harsin wasn’t able to tap into Finley’s potential during his abbreviated role last season, but if the Auburn headman’s comments are any indication, Finley might be starting to prove his case for QB1.