TJ Finley reveals his biggest areas of growth entering season

Quarterback TJ Finley started his career at LSU before transferring to Auburn for his sophomore season. There, he backed up Bo Nix in 2021, while seeing good playing time. Now, Bryan Harsin has named him the starting quarterback for the 2022 season.

Expectations are high for TJ Finley, who has already run into off-field trouble during this offseason. Now, he needs to prove that he’s ready to be the starter on the field.

While speaking to the media, TJ Finley explained his biggest areas of growth entering the regular season.

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“I don’t really like to talk about myself, but I think in this interview I might have to, just a little bit,” TJ Finley said.

“Just the little things. I’m a big guy, so just following through on my release and being pinpoint accurate in most of my throws and really dissecting the offense.”

TJ Finley said that he is much more mature and that he now has a better understanding of what to do on offense. He also pointed out that 2021 was his second year at the college level. Many quarterbacks have that time to develop, whereas he was thrown headfirst into the deep end.

“I’ve been thrown into the fire since I was 18 years old. So, all the stuff that has been said that you know, he’s not developed and stuff like that, like we got guys that are rookies in the league that are 25 years old…let’s give it some time and let’s see where it’s gonna take off from there, but you know, just every little part of my game I think has went to another level.”

“Me, personally, the work that I had to put into myself outside of Fall camp, outside of Spring ball, outside of the Summer, to just get mentally ready and physically prepared to lead this football team, when those guys came in I kind of questioned myself like do I even want to play football anymore because a lot of guys had counted me out and a lot of guys were like oh you need to quit football go play basketball or do other things…those guys push me a lot each and every day and we push each other.”

TJ Finley was a consensus three-star recruit in the Class of 2020. He played one season at LSU before transferring to Auburn in 2021. He won the starting job at Auburn over Zach Calzada, a transfer from Texas A&M.

TJ Finley explained who he models his game after

It should be no surprise that TJ Finely initially wound up going to LSU when he modeled his name after Joe Burrow.

“I’ve dropped a lot of weight that I’ve been playing with for the past two years, I like to call it baby weight, but the last two seasons I’ve played around 250-249, I’m around 242-241 right now,” TJ Finley said. “I feel a lot better and I have been running around a little better. Especially I like playing with our defense because they know they can’t hit me, so when they think it’s a sack I like to run around and show off my wheels a little bit.”

“But I think extending plays is what I focused on this offseason because in the SEC, just going back and watching LSU in 2019, just watching the SEC championship Joe Burrow extended so many plays to where Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson were able to get down field and make something happen. So it’s just plays like that and little stuff like that I like to keep focusing on to take my game to the next level.”