Taylor Jones, Auburn WireTue, December 2, 2025 at 3:01 PM UTC·3 min readAuburn head coach Alex Golesh is an offensive mastermind with a great track record of developing quarterbacks, as exemplified by Hendon Hooker, Dillon Gabriel, and Byrum Brown.
During Monday's introductory press conference, Golesh outlined his process for evaluating quarterbacks. As it stands, Auburn will have Ashton Daniels, Deuce Knight, and Jackson Arnold on the 2026 roster and could add a quarterback or two from the transfer portal following the de-commitment of 2026 quarterback Peyton Falzone. Golesh says that every quarterback race is different and that Auburn fans should not worry if a quarterback is not named during the spring.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"I’ve been in situations where you knew going into spring who your one, two, and three were. We were in that boat a year ago. I've been in situations, shoot, more times than I can even think of, where it went all the way through August," Golesh said. "I don’t know if you can rush that part of it. I do know this - you want to have the best competition we possibly can in a room because if you do, you let these guys compete, give them every opportunity to grow, develop within the base foundation of what you are from a system standpoint, and then you pick the guy that you feel like gives you the best chance to win."
Although Golesh has been on the job for just two days, he says that he has spent time watching tape on Auburn's quarterbacks, and will continue to do so as the weeks progress. He likes what he sees out of Auburn's current makeup, and wants to take his time when it comes to naming a frontrunner.
"There’s talented, talented dudes in that room. They have tape, certainly, at this level. We are evaluating it like crazy; we evaluated it coming in," Golesh said. "I think the biggest thing we have to figure out right now is the competition part of that. Are you going to add someone else? Are you going to add multiple people? At the end of the day, the competition will take as long as it needs to. I think in the perfect world we would love to know in January, but in our situation here we won’t, and we probably won’t until August, I would imagine, unless spring ball carries out in such a fashion that you’ll know.”
Auburn started three quarterbacks during the 2025 season. Oklahoma transfer Jackson Arnold started a bulk of the season before Ashton Daniels took over the reins in the final two games of the season. Freshman Deuce Knight also started one game in an attempt to save Daniels' redshirt status for the 2026 season. The Tigers ended the season ranked No. 15 in the SEC in passing with 197 yards per game, and passed for an SEC-low 11 touchdowns.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSuppose all three quarterbacks return to the roster, plus the addition of another, the quarterback competition will be one of the most-watched aspects of Auburn's spring practice and summer workouts.
Watch Alex Golesh's introductory press conference
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This article originally appeared on Auburn Wire: Auburn football Alex Golesh QB development mindset
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