Twelve days into the job and Alex Golesh is expected to answer even for what would go down two or three years from now. But it’s not unexpected for a program coming off a 5-7 season and tied for the longest stretch of losing years in school history. They’re merely asking its new head coach how quickly a reset can happen. That pressure is immediate, and it starts at quarterback. Asked how difficult it is to evaluate QBs with such small sample sizes, he did not hedge.

“I would tell you [it’s] incredibly difficult,” Alex Golesh said in his appearance on The Next Round on December 18. “I’ve watched every snap probably no short of five times. I’ve gone back and watched film at the previous spot with Ashton. I went back and shoot. I had Deuce at camp as a freshman. Uh so I’ve got that memory where I thought ‘Man, this young man is going to be incredibly special’ and I still believe that.”

The QB room has forced Alex Golesh into early decisions with long-term consequences. Auburn lost Jackson Arnold to the transfer portal. What remains is Ashton Daniels, who appeared in four games and threw for 797 yards with three touchdowns, and Deuce Knight, a true freshman with one career start. Now, the Tigers are asking a first-year head coach to evaluate limited college tape while simultaneously convincing those players to stay. The challenge, Golesh said, is not just talent evaluation. It is speed. Both sides must decide quickly whether the relationship works. That reality defines the early phase of his tenure.

Deuce Knight remains the most intriguing piece. In his lone start against Mercer, he tied an Auburn record with six total touchdowns. In limited action this season, he passed for 259 yards and two touchdowns while adding 178 rushing yards and four scores. He still has four years of eligibility. And with the position the most important in the sport, Auburn is making that decision less than two weeks into Alex Golesh’s tenure. That urgency has extended into recruiting. 

Alex Golesh inherited a 2026 class that now includes 18 signees and ranks 41st nationally in the 247Sports Composite. QB Rhys Brush flipped from South Florida and signed with Auburn on December 3, following the head coach to the Plains. Brush is rated as the nation’s 75th-best QB with 1,685 passing yards, 24 touchdowns, and a 63.5 percent completion rate as a senior at Armwood High School. Across four varsity seasons, he totaled over 6,000 yards and 87 touchdowns. His signing bumped the class to 60th nationally and 14th in the SEC. 

Alex Golesh’s track record offers context. At South Florida, he developed Byrum Brown into one of the most productive dual-threat QBs in the country. Brown passed for 3,158 yards, rushed for 1,008 more, and accounted for 42 total touchdowns. Those numbers matter because Auburn has not seen sustained QB production since Bo Nix in 2021. He also brought back Kodi Burns as associate head coach, co-offensive coordinator, and wide receivers coach. Burns is an Auburn letterman and a national champion. Together at USF, they helped build one of the nation’s most explosive offenses. But the QB isn’t the only question he was hit with.  

What Alex Golesh said on scheduling

Alex Golesh was also asked about Auburn’s future scheduling philosophy, particularly the risk of difficult nonconference games in an expanded SEC slate. His answer was measured. 

“What’s scheduled is scheduled at this point,” he said. “And so you’re going to get the political answer of we’re going to play our schedule out and we’re going to do everything in our power to go be really successful.”

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Alex Golesh admitted his busy schedule since his hiring on November 30 gave him “no time to think about it.” He did acknowledge the need for strategy but stressed that marquee games matter when a program believes it can contend. He referenced his USF experience, where a brutal early schedule led to confidence, not collapse. 

“When you go win those games, you set yourself up truly from a mental side of ‘man, we can literally go play with anybody in the country,’” he said. “When you take over a program that hasn’t had recent success, the belief that you’re going to go win games is as important as anything else. That there’s an actual expectation that you can go win.”

Still, Alex Golesh admitted he has not thought deeply about what Auburn should look like two or three years from now. But 2026’s unforgiving schedule was released Thursday night. Baylor in Atlanta, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, and Alabama, all in one season. Before he can define the Tigers’ future stance, he has to survive its present reality. And right now, that reality starts with the QB.