JD PicKell isn't panicking on Zach Calzada in Auburn quarterback competition

With just three weeks until the 2022 college football season, there still isn’t a true QB1 at Auburn. Despite former Texas A&M quarterback Zach Calzada running with the first time during fall camp, On3’s JD PicKell’s sources claim that there might be more to the quarterback competition than meets the eye.

“Zach Calzada has not yet sprinted away with this job,” PicKell’s sources revealed. “Now, he’s still the frontrunner, don’t get it twisted. But so far into camp, he’s yet to take hold of that job and squeeze the life out of it. Now, there’s two opinions I have on this. The first is that you’d like Zach Calzada to step in there and be the sheriff day one – fair enough.

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“The other piece of this is, folks, it’s like the first week of fall camp. I mean, they haven’t even scrimmage yet. They haven’t even had a real game like scenario yet, let’s all just pump the brakes if you haven’t already if you didn’t even worry about that tidbit, that’s fine. But if you’re worried at all about Zach Calzada being the guy at Auburn, it’s just way too early to do any of that.”

If not Calzada, then who? Former Oregon quarterback Robby Ashford is in the mix, and could even see himself making the start at some point down the line if the Calzada move doesn’t pan out. Even if Ashford doesn’t make any starts, he’s bound to get snaps thanks to his dual-threat ability. TJ Finley also could find himself behind center, too, though his recent arrest may have soured that, at least for Week One.

“We’re going to learn a lot about that quarterback race when it comes to the scrimmage on Saturday,” PicKell said. “I’ve said this about the race, whoever wins that quarterback job – good – because your head coach is betting his meal ticket on that quarterback, especially Bryan Harsin, which we’ll talk about, I’m assuming at a later date, It’s very obvious like you’ve got to win a lot of games. What number of games you need to win? I don’t know.

“I don’t think Bryan Harsin even knows but they have to win, and win convincingly for him to keep his job, and the quarterback position is a big part of that.”