Hugh Freeze confirms both Jackson Arnold, Ashton Daniels will get reps as Auburn QB during Arkansas week

Hugh Freeze had hinted at a possible change at quarterback coming out of this weekend’s latest loss in double overtime to Missouri. He now has confirmed that it’s on the table for the Tigers.

During his press conference on Monday, Freeze said both Jackson Arnold, their starter to this point, and Ashton Daniels, the transfer from Stanford, are set to get first-team reps this week for Auburn. That leaves their starting quarterback to be determind ahead of kickoff this weekend against Arkansas in Fayetteville.

“Yeah, we’re looking at everything,” Freeze said of personnel changes on offense.

“You have to start looking when you – as well as Jackson played in the first half of the last two games, you still have to start looking at everything of, alright, why do we not have the winning ways, and, sitting here, feeling like we do?” Freeze said. “And so, you know, we’re going to get (Jackson) and Ashton a lot of reps, and kind of see where it goes from there.”

As of today, Freeze said the expectation for the Tigers is still that Arnold will be the starter come Saturday against the Razorbacks. However, that will be on a day-to-day basis in their preparation this week, with them unconcerned in burning the redshirt at this point, which they had originally planned for, with Daniels.

“I would say the expectation is for him to start,” said Freeze of Arnold. “He’s led us on two scoring drives to start the last two games, and hopefully that is what happens in this one also. But, we’ll go day-to-day, but that’s the expectation.”

“Not anymore,” Freeze said of how this affects the previous redshirt plan for Daniels. “We just, we’re going to play to win with them. And, you know, he’s prepared to play the last few and then, you know, if you go watch the game and you’re watching it live, it’s really hard to complain about Jackson in the first half of the last two games, for sure….We’ve got to get that consistency throughout the game, or we’ve got to go find a spark.”

As the season has gone downhill on The Plains, as has the play by Arnold. He, on the season, is posting 63.6% completion for 170 passing yards per game with five touchdowns and one interceptions, while also rushing for 37.3 yards per game and scoring seven times on the ground. But, during the four-game losing streak to open conference play for the Tigers, Arnold is posting 60.4% completion for 172.3 yards per game, just one passing touchdown, and one interception, along with just 17.3 rushing yards, albeit for three of his rushing scores, as he has been taken down 20 times on sacks out of 26 total taken on the season.

With that, Daniels is now under consideration, after also transferring in this offseason. Some had even wondered what this could mean for Deuce Knight, their lone former five-star freshman who was their top overall commitment in the 2025 recruiting cycle per Rivals’ Industry Ranking.

Scoring just 13.5 points over these four losses, which each have been in reach as each have come by ten points or less, something has to give offensively for Auburn. That might now be at the Tigers’ QB1 spot pending how this week goes for either one of Arnold or Daniels.

“We have to fix those (details), and I know that we can. And that, I believe, is the secret to getting us over the hump in these games,” Freeze said of the fixes that need to happen with his team. “Obviously, we’ve got to make the plays when they come our way that are there…We just are not consistent enough over and over again at this time, and that’s why we’re sitting here, you know, feeling like we are about a team that’s played four Top-15 teams right down to the wire.”

“Man, the details. We’ve got to be harder. We’ve got to coach harder, demand more of ourselves and on the kids. It’s no longer – the answer can’t be, you know, I don’t know why he, you know, ran it right in the first quarter and he didn’t the third quarter. That’s no longer acceptable…Whether it’s, the ball has got to come out to your second progression, it has got to come out – and it’s there, so turn it loose. And so, we’ve got to demand more,” Freeze said specifically of necessary offensive improvment. “Our coaches are very clear on how I feel right now about that, and hopefully we lessen, maybe, what we’re carrying, and there’s zero room for excuses.”