12/3/22 Auburn Articles

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#PMARSHONAU: Hall leaves Auburn with a legacy of excellence and service

Phillip Marshall

6–7 minutes

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Derick Hall made it official Friday that’s he’s headed to the NFL. It would have been a shock if he’d done anything else after giving all he had to Auburn football and Auburn University for four seasons.

Hall isn’t only a great football player, a great pass rusher. He is a great human being who does all he can to make the world a better place. He could have gone on to the NFL after last season, but he came back one more time because of the deep and abiding love he has for Auburn.

Three years ago, I talked to his mother when I was doing a story on him. I’m going to share again today some of what she told me.

The advice offered by somber-faced doctors was terrifying and devastating for 26-year-old Stacy Gooden. They told her that her little son, not breathing when he was born four months premature, had no chance of a quality life.

“He was actually born dead,” his mother, now Stacy Gooden-Crandle, told Auburn Undercover. “The doctors wanted me to just let nature take its course. We decided we wanted to fight for him.”

And so, on March 19, 2001, at Gulfport (Miss.) Memorial Hospital began the incredible journey of Derick Hall.

For five months, little Derick, so small his mother could hold him in the palm of her hand, fought for his life in the hospital. He was on life support for more than a week. He had bleeding in his brain. The prognosis was grim.

“They said he’d never be able to walk or be able to talk,” his mother, a Gulfport social worker, said. “They said he’d just be a vegetable. He’d be 85 percent mentally retarded. He wouldn’t have any quality of life. They said 'we shouldn’t try to save this baby.'”

On that day in 2001, a mother prayed for her son and for strength.

“A young woman being told all this, I was scared, Gooden-Crandle said. “I didn’t know if I could financially support this kid. I didn’t know if I was prepared for the things I was being told. We just trusted God wholeheartedly, and look what we’ve got now.”

When little Derick went home from the hospital, the fight was just beginning. He had severe asthma and was hospitalized for weeks at a time. His future was still uncertain.

“It got so bad that he could go outside for three or four minutes and he would need his rescue inhaler,” his mother said.

Yet, when he was 4 years old, Derick played flag football. He loved it from the start.

“He’s an amazing kid,” his mother said. “He didn’t let the things he went through as a young man be a handicap. I told him you have to push through it and fight through it. He loved football. I got the coaches inhalers; I kept one in my purse. Everybody had one just in case he needed it.  He’s just a fighter. I always encourage him to just keep being him.”

His mother and later Cedric Crandle, the stepfather Derick calls his dad, were there for him at every turn. And they still are today.

“My mom is my queen,” Derick said. “She is everything to me, how hard she worked raising two kids by herself at first, working two or three jobs. God blessed me with a great stepdad. I refer to him as my father, not my stepdad.”

Derick remembers the frustration of not being like the other boys, fighting for his breath while others ran and played. He doesn’t remember ever considering giving up.

“The earliest thing I remember is being 4 or 5 years old and having an asthma attack,” Derick said. “I was in the hospital for three weeks. Going through all that at a young age, going through breathing machines and treatments and stuff like that, getting through all of that every year at a young age really put me in position to learn how to fight, compete and face adversity.”

There are times it’s still hard today. His lungs are still not as developed as they normally would be at his age. The little boy who wouldn’t give up became the young man who still won’t give up.

“I have the lungs of a 13- or 14-year-old child,” Derick said. “Trying to overcome those obstacles through hard work and dedication and commitment started at a young age up until now. That’s what propelled me to where I am today.”

Hall still has asthma issues today, though he rarely needs a rescue inhaler. And he’s still not letting it slow him down.

Whatever you believe or whatever you have heard about college football players caring about nothing to get to the NFL is blown up by Hall.

Just this week, Hall was named winner of winner of the national Freddie Solomon Community Spirit Award, the Premier Players Foundation of Tampa announced today.

A three-year starter, his work off the field has been as influential as his play on it. He has enlisted students to attend basketball games, provided water for those in need in his home state of Mississippi, donating turkeys, toys and Halloween candy to people in need and becoming a respected campus leader.

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"I want to give back to my community any way I can, because I've been blessed," Hall said after winning the award. "Community service has always been a priority to me, coming from a place where I know what it's like to see a single mother struggle and have to make ends meet. I feel like it is my priority to use the platform I have to help and serve others! Why not give back when I have the ability to do so?"

It came as no surprise that Hall was selected as a captain by his teammates. He’s the kind of young man who people will follow. It will come as no surprise when he plays on in the NFL.

">247Sports

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Hugh Freeze adds 2 Liberty assistants to Auburn coaching staff

Published: Dec. 02, 2022, 8:32 p.m.

4–5 minutes

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This is a 2021 photo of Jeremy Garrett of the Cleveland Browns NFL football team. This image reflects the Cleveland Browns active roster as of Wednesday, April 14, 2021 when this image was taken. (AP Photo)AP

By

• Tom Green | tgreen@al.com
• Nubyjas Wilborn | nwilborn@al.com

Hugh Freeze is bringing a pair of on-field assistants with him from Liberty to Auburn.

Jeremy Garrett will serve Auburn’s defensive line coach, while Ben Aigamaua will be the Tigers’ tight ends coach, a source confirmed to AL.com. Garrett spent last season in the same role on Freeze’s staff at Liberty, where the Flames led the country in tackles for loss (109), finished third among all FBS teams in sacks (41) and were 34th nationally in run defense, limiting opponents to 3.76 yards per carry. Aigamaua was Liberty’s tight ends coach last season.

Read more Auburn football: Obtained SEC memos reveal hiring process of Hugh Freeze, Level 1 violation coaches

Auburn AD John Cohen discusses ‘due diligence’ that led to hiring Hugh Freeze

Offensive lineman Keiondre Jones to enter transfer portal, could return to Auburn

Garrett and Aigamaua join Cadillac Williams as the first on-field assistants for Freeze’s inaugural staff. Freeze, who was hired Monday and introduced on the Plains on Tuesday, is working to quickly assemble his first Auburn staff as key recruiting dates rapidly approach, including the opening of the transfer portal next week.

Garrett was out recruiting with Freeze in Montgomery on Friday, joining the head coach, associate head coach Cadillac Williams and assistant coaches Zac Etheridge and Christian Robinson at Madhouse Training, where many of the areas top prospects train.

Garrett, a former defensive lineman at Ole Miss when Freeze was an assistant with the Rebels, has 13 years of coaching experience to his name but just two at the college level. He got his start as a high school coach in Mississippi and Tennessee before serving as a defensive quality control assistant at Vanderbilt in 2019 under then-Commodores coach Derek Mason. Garrett worked closely with Vanderbilt’s defensive line that season.

After one year at Vanderbilt, Garrett made the jump to the NFL, where he spent two seasons as an assistant defensive line coach with the Cleveland Browns. While with the Browns, Garrett worked with the likes of first-team All-Pro defensive end Myles Garrett, Olivier Vernon and Jadeveon Clowney. Cleveland finished the 2020 season, his first with the franchise, with the NFL’s ninth-ranked run defense after finishing 30th the year prior, while the Brown were one of just four teams to have two players each post at least nine sacks that season.

In his second season with Cleveland, the Brown were fifth in total defense for just the third time since 1970 the franchise finished in the top-five in that category. Myles Garrett, meanwhile, set the franchise record with 19 sacks that year. After his run with the Browns, Garrett was tabbed by Freeze to join Liberty’s staff this past season.

Aigamaua has been a mainstay of Freeze’s coaching staffs throughout the years. He was a graduate assistant at Lambuth in 2010, served various roles on Freeze’s staff at Ole Miss and then spent the last four seasons at Liberty’s tight ends coach.

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde. Nubyjas Wilborn is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nwilborn19.

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Etheridge has kept Auburn in mix for 5-stars Russaw, Smith; Freeze aims to close

Steve Wiltfong

~3 minutes

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Year in and year out, Madhouse Training in Montgomery, Ala. is home to some of the best high school football prospects in the state.

With that, new Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze made a stop there on Friday, the first day college coaches can be on the road recruiting as we approach Dec. 21, the first day of the early signing period. Expected to make their decision during that three-day span are Carver High five-star teammates in defensive lineman James Smith and edge rusher Qua Russaw. Freeze is hoping those two will help him return Auburn to prominence.

“He was really good,” Madhouse Training founder Tracy Varner said. “The new defensive line coach was really good. I liked him. Everybody was good man. He was really good. Of course I know Zac (Etheridge) and Cadillac (Williams) and C-Rob (Christian Robinson) I already knew them.

“It was actually mine and Hugh’s first time ever talking. I was saying I don’t know how we missed each other when you were at Ole Miss, somehow we did. Good dude, You know he knows ball. He has that old Southern charm, he can talk to anybody and he does that well. It was good. He was like we’re really going to go after these guys. I told him how good a job Zac Etheridge did. Zac kept those guys interested and said ‘we’re Auburn we’re going to build this thing.’ Zac kept it together and kept talking to those guys.

“Qua and Zac are from the same hometown. Qua is from Troy and moved up to Montgomery. Zac did a great job with Qua and James and was one of the few coaches they talked to. They don’t talk to a lot of coaches and Zac put y’all in good position to see what y’all can do in the next couple weeks.”

Smith and Russaw attended most of the home games at Auburn this year after taking their official back in June. The Tigers are battling Alabama, Florida and Georgia for their respective signatures.

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“The plan is to get over there one day, spend the whole day with (Freeze) and the d-line coach and whoever else he hires and get in there and make that happen,” Varner said. Freeze did not meet with Russaw or Smith this go-round, saving his one in-home visit with them for later.

Smith and Russaw took an official to Georgia in the summer and Florida earlier in the fall. They are slated to be at Alabama next weekend.

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REPORT: Ze'Vian Capers will not enter the transfer portal

JD McCarthy

~2 minutes

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Hugh Freeze has already won his first transfer portal battle.

Auburn receiver Ze'Vian Capers announced his plans to enter the transfer portal on Nov. 1 but the Tigers decision to hire Freeze has caused him to change his mind. According to Keith Niebuhr of Auburn Live he no longer plans to enter the transfer portal and will return to Auburn.

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Capers has spent three seasons at Auburn and likes Freeze’s history of developing quarterbacks and using bigger receivers, Capers is 6-foot-4 and 195 pounds.

“Yes I do plan on staying at Auburn,” Capers told Niebuhr. “I’ve decided to come back because (new Tigers coach) Hugh Freeze has a great track record with developing quarterbacks and using big-body receivers in his offense and I know I would thrive in his offense.”

The Cumming, Georgia, native has caught 14 passes for 147 yards and one touchdown in 14 games on the Plains. He caught one pass last season.

He flashed his potential as a freshman but did not take the next step and is looking to breakout in Freeze’s offense which places a greater emphasis on passing the ball.

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow JD on Twitter @jdmccarthy15.

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In His Own Words: Cohen on the process of hiring Freeze as Auburn HC

Phillip Marshall

4–5 minutes

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Auburn athletics director John Cohen talked indepth Thursday night on Tiger Talk, Auburn's weekly call-in show, about what went into his decision to choose Hugh Freeze as Auburn’s 31st head football coach. Following are some highlights of what he had to say.

On the process of hiring Freeze

“When you make a decision of this magnitude, you treat it with the utmost seriousness. The great thing about being a part of a tradition or a family like the Auburn family, people have thoughts. For sure, they share those thoughts. But you’ve got to go deep, deep, deep, and you have to find out everything.

“When you have a coach who has coached at as many places as Hugh has, you have to go to every one of those places to find out why they had success and what the relationship was with the student-athletes. You have to find out what their abilities were to recruit. You have to do your due diligence because that’s what we get paid to do.”

On vetting Freeze’s background

“Start with the Southeastern Conference office and Briarcrest High School where he was; Ole Miss, Arkansas State, Liberty, Lambeth. Everywhere he’s been, we checked in and the common theme of former student-athletes, former trainers, former student managers - and they all gave the same answers - was ‘Hey, I want to work with that guy. He has energy. He shows up every day with tremendous passion.”

On Freeze’s ability to recruit

“I think there’s a great recruiting plan. The truth of the matter is this: When you talk to someone for an hour or more, they can sell you on anything. But when you talk to student-athletes, coaches that competed against and with him, and you talk about parents who have student-athletes who played for him. When they all start to say the same thing about his vision, about his recruiting, and how much he cares and identifies with the players themselves, then you really have something there. That’s what we found in Hugh Freeze.”

On why Freeze was the choice

“When we first started the process and we looked at all the criteria, Hugh Freeze jumped out at us. I just kept thinking, ‘He is such a great fit for this job.’ But I wanted to go deep, I wanted to interview several people, and I wanted to make sure he was the right decision. We kind of started with Hugh and ended up with Hugh for all the same reasons.

On comparisons to Bruce Pearl

“He’s going to do a great job in this community in so many ways. I know Bruce  is from Boston and I know Hugh is from Mississippi, but when you’re talking to them, close your eyes and take the accents out and you could be talking to the same guy. Both of those guys have so much energy, so much passion and they just connect with the community. You still have to win games. I just mentioned Bruce, and he’s won a ton of games. I really believe that Hugh can do that here, will do that here.

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On importance of Cadillac Williams

“I was a guy who watched him play from afar. I knew he was a great player, knew he was a great NFL player. I knew that the Auburn community loved him. Four weeks ago, when we were playing Texas A&M, I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced anything like that in my life. Honestly, I walk into that game and I think, ‘We’re playing for a national championship’. Here’s two teams that both have three wins late in the year. The atmosphere, the energy and all that came from Cadillac. When we interviewed Hugh, the first thing he said was, ‘Do you think we can get Cadillac? He’s that important to my staff. You think he’d be willing to be a part of this?’ I said ‘That’s something you’re going to have to discuss with him. Cadillac has been phenomenal. He’s going to be on this staff. and he’s going to be a huge part of Auburn football from this point forward.”

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Hugh Freeze's past offenses by the numbers

JD McCarthy

4–5 minutes

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Auburn’s last two coaches’ downfall was that their offenses were no longer meeting expectations.

For Gus Malzahn that meant they slipped from where they were early in his tenure, while Bryan Harsin was never able to establish an effective offense.

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Hugh Freeze was hired to change that and he has had success in the SEC with his offensive scheme. Which he has used to beat Nick Saban multiple times, something not many coaches can say.

His offense is based around a dangerous passing attack and developing quarterbacks, something that has Robby Ashford “excited” to work with his new coach.

This will mark a change in Auburn’s past offenses, which were based around a ground attack that opened up holes in the defense that the passing game could then exploit.

Here is a look at Freeze’s offenses at Arkansas State (2011), Ole Miss 2012-16), and Liberty (2019-22) by the numbers and how they rank compared to the rest of their peers.

Category	Stat	Conference Rank
Points per game	32.5	1
Total offense	448.7	1
Yards per play	5.73	2
Rushing yards per game	154.23	2
Rushing yards per carry	3.89	5
Passing yards per game	293.6	1
Yards per attempt	7.6	2
Completion %	65.2%	1
3rd down conversion %	42.08%	2
Red zone TD %	56.06%	5

Category	Stat	Conference Rank
Points per game	31.5	5
Total offense	423.8	5
Yards per play	5.73	7
Rushing yards per game	174	5
Yards per carry	4.09	10
Passing yards per game	249.8	5
Yards per attempt	7.9	5
Completion %	63.3	5
3rd down conversion %	44.28%	4
Red zone TD %	66.67%	4

Category	Stat	Conference Rank
Points per game	30	9
Total Offense	423.8	5
Yards per play	5.73	7
Rushing Yards per game	190	7
Yards per carry	4.68	10
Passing Yards per game	283.3	3
Yards per attempt	7.5	9
Completion %	63.3%	6
3rd down conversion %	45.69%	5
Red zone TD %	52.17%	13

Category	Stat	Conference Rank
Points per game	28.3	11
Total offense	419.1	7
Yards per play	6.03	7
Rushing yards per game	155.46	10
Yards per carry	4.25	11
Passing yards per game	263.6	5
Yards per attempt	8	5
Completion %	60.3%	7
3rd down conversion %	39.34%	10
Red zone TD %	56.1%	11

Category	Stat	Conference Rank
Points per game	40.8	1
Total offense	517.8	1
Yards per play	7.07	1
Rushing yards per game	183.08	7
Yards per carry	5.14	2
Passing Yards per game	334.7	1
Yards per attempt	8.9	2
Completion %	65%	4
3rd down conversion %	41.41%	5
Red zone TD %	59.68	5

Category	Stat	Conference Rank
Points per game	32.6	4
Total offense	464.3	3
Yards per play	6.16	7
Rushing yards per game	149.42	12
Yards per carry	4.25	11
Passing yards per game	314.9	1
Yards per attempt	7.8	4
Completion %	59.8%	6
3rd down conversion %	40.24%	9
Red zone TD %	54.39%	13

Category	Stat	National Rank
Points per game	32.8	34
Total offense	439.4	32
Yards per play	6.44	18
Rushing yards per game	150.46	78
Yards per carry	4.5	59
Passing yards per game	288.9	21
Yards per attempt	8.3	24
Completion %	56.9%	92
3rd down conversion %	40.72%	58
Red zone TD %	69.64%	26

Category	Stat	National Rank
Points per game	38.2	16
Total offense	482.7	15
Yards per play	6.71	13
Rushing yards per game	252.36	9
Yards per carry	5.74	7
Passing yards per game	230.4	62
Yards per attempt	8.3	26
Completion %	62.9%	39
3rd down conversion %	48.3%	13
Red zone TD %	58.93%	82

Category	Stat	National Rank
Points per game	33.6	25
Total offense	436.2	35
Yards per play	6.38	24
Rushing yards per game	181.23	45
Yards per carry	4.64	48
Passing yards per game	255	43
Yards per attempt	8.7	15
Completion %	59.3%	82
3rd down conversion %	42.86%	41
Red zone TD %	71.11%	11

Category	Stat	National Rank
Points per game	28.3	68
Total offense	400.5	59
Yards per play	5.67	67
Rushing yards per game	178.5	48
Yards per carry	4.53	52
Passing yards per game	220	77
Yards per attempt	7.1	76
Completion %	57.9%	94
3rd down conversion %	37.13%	85
Red zone TD %	62.22%	64

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SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has had an ‘honest conversation’ with Hugh Freeze this week

Taylor Jones

2–3 minutes

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Auburn’s decision to hire Hugh Freeze came with backlash.

Sure, Freeze has won plenty of football games, some of which came against SEC foes, but his shady off-the-field past at both Ole Miss and Liberty has given several Auburn fans plenty of concern regarding Freeze.

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey was in the first full year of his current role when Freeze resigned in 2016 from Ole Miss after an investigation found evidence of a “pattern of personal misconduct.” He shared Thursday during a press conference ahead of Saturday’s SEC Championship Game in Atlanta that he has had a conversation with Freeze since his hiring at Auburn. Sankey did not reveal specifics to the conversation but feels that Freeze’s new opportunity will give him an opportunity to wipe his slate clean.

“I look from this point forward. We’re informed by people’s pasts. Hugh and I actually had an individual phone call earlier today, very positive,” Sankey said Thursday. “That’s not the first phone call he and I have had in the last five years. I appreciated the way he responded during his press conference. And I respect the fact that he and I, over the succeeding years since his departure from Ole Miss, could have candid and honest conversation.”

Sankey says that he welcomes Freeze back to the SEC, and believes that he has had opportunities to leave his past behind him.

“He’s now the head coach at Auburn University. I wish them well, there’s a lot of work to do,” Sankey said. “And he kind of brought me up to speed on some of that this morning. And I’m confident there’s been plenty of opportunities for learning over the years and look forward to working with Hugh again.”

Freeze was hired by Auburn on Nov. 28 to replace Bryan Harsin, who posted a 9-12 record over a season and a half on the Plains.

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Auburn's championship week outlook according to College Football News

Story originally appeared on Auburn Wire