Texas A&M Football: What Zach Calzada’s transfer to Auburn means

The Texas A&M football team had a strange situation at quarterback last season. The Aggies’ top guy in Haynes King won the offseason quarterback competition but dropped with a leg injury almost immediately. This sent redshirt sophomore Zach Calzada into the mix — a player who seemed like a distant second.

And at first, he looked like a guy who had lost the quarterback battle.

Against Colorado, the Aggies only mustered 10 points and he looked pedestrian at best. This was a recurring theme throughout the year, though Calzada made up for it with one huge game against Alabama, giving Nick Saban his first loss against a former assistant. The win made A&M’s season worth it.

Former Texas A&M football quarterback Zach Calzada has officially announced Auburn as his transfer destination

Personally, I was expecting Calzada to transfer to a smaller program. There were a handful of openings — Western Michigan, for example — that would have allowed for the former Aggie passer to earn immediate playing time. Obviously, that wasn’t his plan.

As A&M fans learned over the past season, Calzada is a competitor. It doesn’t matter what his odds are, he wants to be in a quarterback competition and win it. Even though he lost to Haynes King in 2021, he may be the favorite to earn the Auburn starting job.

This past season, Calzada threw for 17 touchdowns and nine interceptions on the year. He accumulated 2,185 yards through the air on the season, posting respectable numbers all year long. Clearly, he got the attention of the Auburn Tigers.

What this means for Texas A&M fans is that they’ll be seeing their former quarterback on a yearly basis for at least two more seasons. Next season, the Aggies will come up against Auburn in a mid-November matchup that will surely have huge implications in the race for the SEC West.

Ironically, both of these teams were among the bottom squads in the SEC West in 2021 — don’t expect that to be a theme.

Calzada’s transfer to Auburn immediately creates one of the most tantalizing storylines in sports. For the next couple of years, this will be a can’t-miss matchup.