Matthew Caldwell, QB - 6'4 212 lbs - Auburn, Alabama
Previous Schools: Jacksonville State(1), Gardner-Webb(2), Troy(1)
Age: 21.9
- 2024 Average Depth of Target: 56th among 71 G5 Qualifiers (8.3) - (Manning 11.1 and Ewers 7.9)
- 2024 PFF Passing Grade: 52nd among 71 G5 Qualifiers (62.0) - (Manning 81.0 and Ewers 78.3)
- 2024 Time to Throw: 2.61 seconds per throw 46th among 71 G5 Qualifiers - (Manning 2.74 and Ewers 2.59)
- 2024 Stats at Troy: 223 Pass Attempts, 63% Passing, 1,608 yards, 13 touchdowns, 9 interceptions (135.9 Rating) - 48 carries, 47 yards, 5 TD
- 2023 Stats at Gardner Webb: 177 Pass Attempts, 57% Passing, 940 yards, 7 touchdowns, 3 interceptions (129.8 Rating) - 23 carries, 77 yards, 1 TD
- 2022 Stats at Gardner Webb: 55 Pass Attempts, 60% Passing, 374 yards, 1 touchdown, 3 interceptions (112.2 Rating) - 13 carries, 15 yards, 2 TD
- 2021 Stats at Jacksonville State: 30 Pass Attempts, 46% Passing, 136 yards, 0 touchdowns, 1 interception (78.1 Rating) - 5 carries, 27 yards, 1 TD
Caldwell also has 1 career punt under his belt, for 25 yards.
On November 18th, Matthew Caldwell won Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against Georgia Southern in a 28-20 win, completing 26 passes on 32 attempts for 288 yards and 2 touchdowns, including 12 carries and 2 rushing touchdowns. He also earned.... The Manning Award Star of the Week for that performance.
Caldwell played in 10 games for Troy in 2024, leading the team in passing yards and touchdowns. With one season of eligibility left, it's interesting that the choice to spend it behind Arch Manning was the route he wanted to take, rather than heading to an alternate Power-5 school to compete for a starting job, however after watching Caldwell this afternoon it makes sense why that opportunity may not have presented itself in the last 11 days.
Interestingly enough, the "Locked on Auburn" Podcast and ON3 predicted that Caldwell would sign with his hometown Auburn Tigers just 5 days ago, in a room that just acquired former Oklahoma QB, Jackson Arnold, Stanford QB Ashton Daniels, and True Freshman Deuce Knight - a loaded, yet wide open room with talent at Wide Receiver to throw to. However with hindsight, if he was offered the No. 2 Quarterback spot at Texas, it is a better role than at least 60% of starting Quarterback jobs in America.
Caldwell has a quick release, showing solid RPO experience at Troy with a slighter frame that is reminiscent of Trevor Siemian (Northwestern) or Joshua Dobbs (Tennessee), low-level producers with limiting factors at the Power-5 level. Those comps were both drafted into the NFL and are serious ceiling thoughts, however, that's not the purpose, it's to point out that Siemian was a very competent backup in the NFL for 7 years. For those that have followed the NFL Draft over the last few months, one of the big knocks on Shedeur Sanders was his tendency to hold onto the football or his continued migration to the depths of the backfield, waiting for receivers to open up - in what little film I have found of Caldwell, I see a ton of this migration coupled with throwing off of the back foot, however with that, his arm looks mighty strong enough in those situations. Pushing the football to the near and far sidelines while moving backwards and throwing off of his back foot.
Caldwell has an arm that can reach 55-58 yards, but the accuracy wanes quite a bit in those territories as he made an extremely poor over throw against South Alabama in the 3rd quarter after athletically evading a collapsed pocket. Something positive on his resume is that he has pocket evasion when things fall apart; he generally has a good feel for the pocket. Something that Coach Sarkisian will quickly help Caldwell with an I assume, just being in the Quarterback room with Coach Milwee and Arch, is Caldwell's feet. Not only does he tend to get happy feet and float backwards, but on the move and in the pocket, he tends to get antsy and not set his base, allowing full body/power usage. It really shows his arm strength and accuracy in the short and medium quadrents.
The good.. a classic pocket quarterback with rushing "abilities" - even on this 63-yard score, you'd love to see Caldwell step into this throw, even though on the heel
The not so good.. against the biggest opponent in 2024, Caldwell threw 21 attempts with 14 completions for 156 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception
Take a listen to Matthew Caldwell after a close loss to South Alabama this season, where he finished 17 for 30 with 142 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions
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