Auburn quarterback Robby Ashford announced he plans to enter the transfer portal, according to a report from 247Sports.

This will be Ashford’s second transfer, meaning he would have to sit out a year because he has not yet graduated. It is not immediately clear how a court decision earlier this week that allows two-time undergraduate transfers to enter the portal would apply to Ashford.

After taking over the lead quarterback duties at the end of the 2022 season, Ashford competed with Payton Thorne for Auburn’s starting quarterback before the 2023 season. Ashford lost the job, but head coach Hugh Freeze insisted Ashford would have a role in the offense.

Ashford was primarily known as a running quarterback who struggled with accuracy after his time starting in 2022, and that remained the case during the 2023 season. Ashford’s role was frequently changing, but early in the season he played frequently enough alongside Thorne that Auburn had a full-fledged two quarterback system.

Against Ole Miss, Ashford was the starting quarterback.

But after the loss to Ole Miss, Freeze took on a much larger role in offensive game planning and play calling. That led to Thorne becoming the only quarterback and an elimination of the quarterback rotation that had dominated much of the early season struggles.

Ashford had six rushing attempts the entire rest of the season after the Ole Miss loss and only threw one pass, which was intercepted against Arkansas. He didn’t play at all against Vanderbilt or New Mexico State.

Against Alabama, Ashford had two carries for -3 yards.

He finished the 2023 season with 44 carries for 220 yards and completed 14 of 27 passes for 147 yards with two passing touchdowns and two interceptions.

Ashford transferred to Auburn from Oregon after not playing in 2020 or 2021. In a much larger role during the 2022 season, Ashford showed flashes of his potential with 1,613 passing yards and 710 rushing yards.

He was never able to build on that success in 2023.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]