I thought Auburn was done bringing in talent for the upcoming season when they landed graduate transfer Jack Driscoll. But Gus and crew ain’t done yet. After an official visit to the Plains this week, the former 4* QB and Phillies minor leaguer Cord Sandberg announced he wants to return to football as a Tiger.

Absolutely humbled to have been given the opportunity to pursue a childhood dream of mine. After some visits and a lot of prayer I’m excited to announce I’m officially an Auburn Tiger! Fired up and ready to get to work! #WarEagle @AuburnFootball pic.twitter.com/ot49iTRW9c — Cord Sandberg (@sandberg_cord) July 30, 2018

Sandberg’s recruitment was a whirlwind. After deciding to return to college football, he had only one week to visit his top programs. He whittled his list down to a final 3 of NC State, Auburn and LSU. Sandberg visited all 3 programs this week before making his decision and will now enroll at Auburn and will be able to participate in fall practice. He’s essentially a late addition to the 2018 signing class and has four years of eligibility available.

Highlights

Scouting Report

First off, interesting soundtrack for the highlight tape.... Sandberg last played football in 2012 so it’s really hard to know what kind of football player he will be when he steps on campus but we can at least see what kind of football player he was before starting his professional baseball career. He’s a true dual threat with the ability to run between the tackles while also attacking a defense vertically through the air. Sandberg has good accuracy and seems to be able to create big plays on his own, even if the original play call breaks down. He does have a funky release and it looks to me like he puts too much air on the ball at times. Chip Lindsey will probably have to work with him on his follow through some too as Sandberg seems to fall away to his side when throwing deep, something that Sean White struggled with as well. Overall though he’s a guy that possesses some nice tools to be an effective weapon in this Auburn offense.

Expectations

So what does this commitment mean? Well it first means that Auburn will carry 4 quarterbacks on scholarship on the roster in 2018 which is twice as many as they had last year. Given the 2015 and 2016 seasons, I think most Auburn fans understand you can never have too many QBs available.

Big picture wise it means the 2019 QB race just got even more interesting. More than likely Jarrett Stidham will be off to the NFL after (hopefully) a big 2018 season. Malik Willis will probably enter next spring as the favorite but for really the first time since 2013, Auburn’s QB race will be wide open. Bo Nix is expected to enroll early so all four competitors will be on campus at the start of spring practice. My guess is 2018 will mostly be Sandberg knocking off the rust so he can make a run at the starting job in 2019. Either way, it never hurts to add more talent to the QB room.

War Eagle Cord!