Bo Nix’s season-ending ankle injury has left the keys to Auburn’s offense in the hands of former LSU transfer T.J. Finley.
Bryan Harsin made that much clear Monday, when he definitively named Finley as the Tigers’ starting quarterback for the final two games of the regular season. But what could Nix’s injury mean for true freshman Dematrius Davis these next couple of weeks?
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The former four-star recruit has not seen the field yet this season, and with two regular-season games plus a bowl game left on the schedule, he’s not at risk of burning his redshirt. So, it’s possible that the 5-foot-10, 202-pound freshman could see the field down the stretch—but if that does happen, it’s not something that had been discussed between Harsin and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, at least as of Monday afternoon.
“We haven’t had those conversations,” Harsin said when asked if Davis could factor into the gameplan moving forward.
Harsin spent much of his Monday press conference fielding questions about Nix’s injury and the circumstances surrounding it, as well as about Finley and getting the sophomore prepared to take over the reins of the offense. The focus at this time is on getting Finley prepared for Saturday’s 6 p.m. kickoff at South Carolina, while Auburn’s quarterback depth behind Finley will be sorted out this week.
Harsin indicated that former Bowling Green transfer Grant Loy will serve as Finley’s backup this week, though Davis has received some reps in that role as well. The first-year head coach also commended walk-on Trey Lindsey for the work he has done in practice of late.
“The majority of the reps will go to T.J., because you want to get as many as you can,” Harsin said. “We’ll have our backup plan as well for those guys. They’ve got to be able to execute it, and they’re going to have less than anybody between Bo and T.J. They’re going to have very few (reps), so they’ve got to stay into it mentally. They’ve got to be prepared and do some things extra on their own from a physical standpoint so they’re ready to play.
“They’ve got to now take on that tole of being the backup and understanding what it is we’re trying to accomplish.”
While Loy has his share of experience as a backup, serving in that role behind Nix last season, and has starting experience from his time at Bowling Green before that, these final weeks of the season seem like an opportune time for Auburn to finally utilize Davis.
The former four-star prospect out of Houston committed to and signed with Auburn prior to last December’s coaching change, but he was one of the top quarterbacks in the 2021 class. He was rated as the No. 24 quarterback in the country, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, which also tabbed him as the No. 223 overall player nationally coming out of high school.
Davis is a true dual-threat quarterback and not set in the mold of the typical quarterbacks to play under Harsin and Bobo, but he was a proven winner and performer at one of the highest levels of high school football in the talent-rich state of Texas.
While at North Shore High, Davis threw for 3,553 yards and 38 touchdowns as a senior, rushing for another 875 yards and 22 scores while leading his team to the state semifinals. That was after he led North Shore to back-to-back state titles as a sophomore and junior. In all, he went 45-2 as a high school starting quarterback.
Though he has not yet been called upon at Auburn, Harsin was impressed with his growth from the spring—when he was an early enrollee—into the fall, saying this on Aug. 14 following a fall scrimmage at Jordan-Hare Stadium:
“He’s got some gamesmanship when he’s out there, and I like that,” Harsin said. “I thought there were some good things tonight from him. I liked his energy on the field. It seemed like he was out there having fun and had a good idea and grasp of the things we were doing each and every drive. He made some good decisions out there. He’s progressed.”
Now, whether Davis has progressed enough to earn a role these final two or three games remains to be seen and will be determined by Harsin and the rest of his staff. While Harsin has yet to make that determination, the Auburn coach’s comments Oct. 27 coming off the bye week could provide some indication of what to expect.
“You don’t know what happens at the end of the year, and you’ve still got guys that have those four games that you can let them play without burning the redshirt,” Harsin said. “So, it’s really a balance of that.”
Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.
