When former head coach Hugh Freeze and his staff recruited Ashton Daniels to the Plains from Stanford, he was never expected to be the Auburn Tigers' QB1. He arrived on campus much later than Jackson Arnold and Deuce Knight, and the plan was to preserve his redshirt so he would be elligible next season.
In reality, things did not go to plan for the Tigers. With two games left to play, Freeze has been fired, DJ Durkin is serving as the interim head coach, and Arnold has been unceremoniously benched for Daniels. Still, Daniels 'services became necessary with five games left on the schedule, and he can only play in four of them if he intends to return next year.