Tristan Ti'a is cementing himself as Auburn's backup quarterback in fall camp.
Alex Golesh provided an update on the battle at QB2 after the Tigers' first scrimmage of fall camp.
"Tristan Ti’a has taken a majority of the two reps in fall camp so far," Golesh said. "He did some really good things today. There was one play where he threw the ball up, like a last-second heave, and you can’t make that decision. He's still young, uber talented but still young. We rolled (Locklan Hewlett) and Rhys (Brush) with the threes today. They have rotated there all camp. They are competing like crazy there, and I'm excited about both of those guys too. So, we'll reassess today and see, but so far up until camp, up until this point in camp, Tristan's taken all the two reps. Tristan has taken monumental steps. He had a really good first seven practices, and then as install started getting heavy and you started getting into heavy situational football, it started happening fast for him. I thought for the most part, other than one throw, I would tell you, it slowed down for him today. He's got some gamer in him when he is out there. He’s got a cool swag and a cool confidence about him, and he's played a bunch of football for being so young. He just needs more reps in this system; this is hard. This is a hard system to play quarterback in; there is a lot on him. There is a lot of checks on him. There is a lot of full field stuff he's got to see, there is a ton on him in the run game and then throw in the fact that you got a defense that will give you any look on any snap. It will go from everybody coming to drop eight, snap to snap. So, it is not easy for him, and I'm so happy it is that way right now for him."
Byrum Brown, who is expected to start at quarterback for the Tigers, has fully embraced the role of mentoring Ti'a.
"Byrum (Brown) has been an incredible mentor to him and really those young guys in general," said Golesh. "They are all little ducklings. Byrum, every time he is supposed to take a break, he is up there watching film, but there are four little ducklings behind him, they just follow him. So we're going to be in a good spot there. I'm confident in all three of those guys, but we will evaluate today. Today was like the first big test for him since spring and see if the reps need to be divided up at all or not, but I do like where Tristan is at right now.”
Ti'a transferred to Auburn from Oregon State. He played in three games last season and completed 37-of-53 passes for 385 yards and three touchdowns
