Is Auburn's QB Room ACTUALLY SEC Ready?

**Ike Jones** (0:00)
Folks, Auburn does not have a QB competition. Byron Brown's the guy. That's not really the question. The question is what happens behind him, because when you look at this quarterback room, you've got a former quarterback with 3,000 yards passing, 1,000 yards rushing. We all know the statistics around Byron Brown. The question that we have to ask ourselves is, how much depth did this QB room have, and who is the guy behind the guy coming into the 2026 season? Let's dive into it right here on The Auburn Express TV.
Welcome on into The Auburn Express TV powered by The War Rapport. All aboard The Auburn Express today, which you got Ike Jones. We're talking quarterback room and we're going to go through all six of the players that are in the room.
Of course, some of those players have more here for us to be able to discuss than others, but we definitely want to give the time to each and every one of these folks because they're deserving of their moment here to talk about it. So let's talk about it, of course, starting with the guy Byron Brown. But let's look at the QB room as a whole before we get into Byron Brown specifically. These are the quarterbacks that are currently on the roster for Auburn. Byron Brown, the senior quarterback, 6'3, 235, 790 snaps last season at USF. Tristan Tia, the presumptive backup here, a redshirt freshman with the size and height 6'2.
He is 6'2, 217, 103 snaps last year at Oregon State. Locklan Hewlett, a redshirt freshman here, 6'1, 200 pounds. He played just 21 snaps last year in backup duty at USF. Rhys Brush, the freshman there coming in, committed in this last class there, 6'2, 195, of course has not taken a snap. Then you've got the two guys who essentially have been walk-ons since their time at Auburn, the junior John Colvin, 6'3, 200 pounds, and Will Myers, the sophomore at 5'8, 190 pounds. But let's again, let's start the conversation talking about Byron Brown.
There's no question he's QB1, right? And there's been debate as to whether or not it is beneficial for Auburn to have a starter named already in the quarterback room or whether or not the competition is really what needs to be happening to make sure everybody's getting pushed. I don't know that that makes a lot of sense in this instance. Even if you're giving it an open competition, no one's going to have more knowledge of how to get it done than Byron Brown. And Byron Brown has proven that he can be a starter for this coaching staff. Hasn't done it yet in the SEC, but neither have any of the other players in this room. So I don't even know that it's a genuine conversation to have about who should be QB1. So we're just going to move on beyond the QB1 conversation and just talk about him as a player and what we should expect from him as the starter for Auburn. Now, there's a couple of things that I want to approach when talking about Byron Brown, the quarterback, and we've spoken about these things before on the channel. We'll continue to drill down on it today. But number one is he's only got the one year of eligibility, right? So whatever is going to happen with Byron Brown as the starter needs to be the maximum output possible for this offense. Wins and losses this season aren't going to just come down to the quarterback and we will dive into all of the rooms that are here for Auburn Football. We're just starting with the quarterback position. But wins and losses aren't going to solely be on the shoulders and on the legs of Byron Brown to get it done. But be very clear, I'm going to continue to say this. If you bring in Byron Brown, which they have done, you're doing that because you want to get off not only to a fast start culturally but you want to go win football games. I do believe that there is a universe where Auburn could have existed without Byron Brown in the one year rental that he is at quarterback and still been a good football team. I think Byron Brown maximizes your potential as a football team in year one, which is why I've been so adamant about. Eight wins needs to be the standard of what Auburn Football is trying to attain and not be happy with anything that's below that because you went and you brought in a guy that has tons of experience in this system that should allow you to get off to a fast start. They've already talked about how much further along they are in installs already when you've got the QB and you've got the center there on the offense to be able to literally get people in the right positions on a consistent basis. You should be able to get off to a fast start as an offense. You've got the same coaching staff in terms of, well, the same play caller I should say, same quarterback coach that you brought over. You should be able to get off to a fast start when you're doing those sorts of things. He puts you in that position. The other thing that is absolutely evident about Byron Brown is his tremendous athletic potential. The question most people have is about whether or not it translates over to the SEC and how he's going to adjust to the consistency that he's going to see in athletes on the opposite side of the football there defensively. And to that I say, just go look at the film and determine for me whether or not you feel like it's a guy who can be a good player in this league. From an athletic standpoint, we've already looked at the measurables there. He's just, he's an absolute beast of a human being. I don't know another way to put it. 6'3, 235 now is what he is listed out on the Auburn website.