Hugh Freeze: Auburn is in 'open competition' at QB between Jackson Arnold, Ashton Daniels

On Saturday, Auburn benched quarterback Jackson Arnold late in the second quarter after he threw a pick-six that gave Arkansas a 21-10 lead. Ashton Daniels replaced Arnold and ultimately led the Tigers to a 33-24 victory. On Monday, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze revealed his plans for the quarterback position moving forward.

“I don’t think there’s any greater motivator than competition. And 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 and then we’ll make a decision. There’s a lot of good things that both did. I thought Ashton showed an incredible amount of poise.

“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. And, I thought he gave us a spark. Up until, Jackson’s interception, I thought he played really, really well to that point. So, it’ll be exciting to see how they both respond and compete this week as we head into this game.”

In the win, Arnold completed 7-of-his-12 pass attempts for 73 yards and a touchdown, while also throwing the interception. Arnold rushed for just nine yards in the game on six carries.

In contrast, Daniels completed 6-of-his-8 pass attempts for 77 yards. He threw neither a touchdown, nor an interception, but he ran for 35 yards. Daniels transferred to Auburn this offseason after spending three years at Stanford.

He’s served as Arnold’s backup throughout the 2025 campaign despite Auburn’s lack of success. Arnold is only averaging 157.9 passing yards per game, the least of any starting quarterback in the SEC.

In fairness, Arnold is a greater rushing threats than many of the other QBs in the conference. However, his ability to use his legs hasn’t translated to wins for the Tigers, who entered Week 9 with a 0-4 record in conference play.

Ashton Daniels isn’t the only quarterback who could usurp Jackson Arnold for the starting spot. Some fans have pushed for freshman QB Deuce Knight to be given a chance to run the offense. While Freeze doesn’t believe it’s likely, he’s also not ruling it out.

“I’ve said this publicly and I mean it: I think Deuce is the future of this program,” Freeze said. “I don’t know if it’s fair to throw him in that right now. He probably would handle it great. And, I’m certainly not saying we won’t. He’ll get a few reps too. But, it’s really hard to do that with three guys right now.”

On Saturday, Auburn will look to wins its second game in a row as it squares off against Kentucky at 6:30 p.m. CT. The game will air live on the SEC Network.