Can Alex Golesh (and Joel Gordon) give Auburn a QB upgrade?

More than half of the QBs under Auburn's new HC and OC have had EPA/dropback stats better than anything the Tigers have had in a long time.

(Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)

AUBURN — A day after he fired Hugh Freeze, Auburn athletic director John Cohen was asked by this very outlet (thanks, Dan) if he would prioritize hiring another head coach with a reputation for his work with quarterbacks.

“I think that's crucial,” Cohen said. “There is no question that's the most important on the field. It's critically important.”

Exactly four weeks later, Cohen stood at a podium and introduced Auburn’s newest head coach: Alex Golesh.

While Golesh has never been a quarterbacks coach at the collegiate level — mostly tight ends, in addition to his well-regarded offensive coordinator work — Cohen made sure to mention his very recent past with the position in his remarks.

“His quarterback this season threw for 3,000 yards and rushed for 1,000,” Cohen said. “To put that in perspective for all of you, that's been done 12 times in the history of college football. The 11 other guys is an all-star list of quarterbacks, many of whom went on to play in the NFL.”

Cohen was right. In the history of major college football, the list of the only players who had a season quite like Byrum Brown had at USF in 2025 included the likes of Vince Young, Colin Kaepernick, Johnny Manziel, Deshaun Watson, Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts and Jayden Daniels.

Brown’s 2025 campaign was a high mark in the standard counting statistics for Golesh quarterbacks. He was a third-year starter coming off of an injury that cost him almost all of the 2024 season, and he put up elite numbers in Golesh’s offense.

As it stands right now, Brown was No. 5 in the FBS this season in yards per pass attempt (9.3) and seventh in quarterback rating (167.06). Of the four players who finished ahead of him in both, three were finalists for the Heisman Trophy and one was the trigger man for the nation’s top passing attack.

(But it’s worth noting that Brown, Golesh and USF beat Drew Mestemaker and North Texas in their meeting during the season.)

(And it’s also worth nothing that Auburn is widely expected to be a frontrunner for Brown, who announced his decision to enter the transfer portal Monday.)