6.8.23 Football Articles

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Lightning rod former Auburn HC rips ‘disastrous’ NIL system

Andrew Hughes

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Lightning rod former Auburn football head coach Tommy Tuberville ripped the current system in place for college sports' NIL rules Mandatory Credit: Photo by John Reed-USA TODAY Sports Copyright © 2005 John Reed

 

Lightning rod former Auburn football Tommy Tuberville has been an outspoken critic of college football’s NIL system since its implementation following the COVID-stricken 2020-21 academic year and he continued his crusade against the current setup in a short video he sent to USA Today.

“Today we are meeting with coaches, athletic directors and administrators from several different conferences here in Washington, D.C., talking about the disastrous new NIL rules,” Tuberville prefaced before saying, “And they are a disaster.” (h/t AL.com)

Tuberville is right. Powerhouse universities like Miami have been hit with NIL sanctions, and there is minimal regulation from state to state — adding an extra layer to recruiting that has nothing to do with the academic and student-athlete futures of the recruits.

Former Auburn football head coach Tommy Tuberville pitches NIL solution

Tuberville made it clear in his video message to USA Today that the NIL system has positives: mainly, paying college athletes making massive profits for their universities.

“I’m for players being able to be compensated for their hard work in athletics as well as academics,” Tuberville said. “We have to come to some kind of agreement where we can help the NCAA make improvements to this runaway NIL situation that we’re in as we speak.”

The former Auburn football head coach also made a grand proclamation that he’d “save college sports” by continuing his efforts with senior West Virginia senator Joe Manchin to tackle the NIL problem in college sports.

“Players transferring at any time? Players making deals with the help of agents with schools and then not being compensated after making these deals? We’re looking out for the player as much as for the university,” Tuberville prefaced before saying, “But we’re looking out for education and we’re looking out for the sanctity of college sports.”

Truthfully, the prospect of players being able to transfer less comes at a convenient time for the Tigers after building a Class of 2023 through the portal. Hugh Freeze seemingly has things under control now in 2024 and beyond, so any such changes to NIL wouldn’t be as detrimental as they would’ve been a year ago.

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Cast your votes in the 2023 Auburn Undercover fan survey

What are the fan base's expectations for Hugh Freeze in Year 1 on the Plains?

Nathan King22 hrs

 

By most accounts, Hugh Freeze has proven himself nicely Auburn fan base since arriving more than six months ago, spearheading a roster rebuild primarily via the transfer portal, and revitalizing the Tigers’ recruiting prowess by salvaging the 2023 class and setting the table for a promising 2024 haul.

Now all that’s left is for Freeze to prove it on the field this fall. So what should that product look like in Year 1? With the busy recruiting season of June and July right around the corner, Auburn Undercover is offering our annual fan survey to gauge what the orange and blue faithful's expectations are for Freeze in his first go-around with the Tigers, the QB competition, thoughts on the schedule, where breakout stars could emerge, the trajectory of the program and more.

Let’s hope the answers play out more accurately than last offseason. In our 2022 fan survey, the top results were that Auburn would win 8-9 games (47.2 percent of votes), and that Bryan Harsin would remain head coach following the 2022 season (82.3 percent).

Submit your answers by scrolling through the questions in the Google form HERE.

Results will be posted and analyzed Friday, so you’ve got a couple days to consider your answers. 

 

 

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yardbarker.com

 

Hugh Freeze ranked as one of the top 50 coaches in college football

Lance Dawe

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Auburn football feels like it is back on the rise, and it's largely due in part to their new head coach Hugh Freeze.

The Tigers have hammered the transfer portal since Freeze's arrival back in November, and after a positive spring Auburn heads into the offseason with hope and excitement.

Various outlets have Freeze ranked anywhere from tenth through sixth in SEC head coaching rankings. According to Big Game Boomer, he's No. 10.

BGB has Sam Pittman (Arkansas), Jimbo Fisher (Texas A&M), Mark Stoops (Kentucky), Josh Heupel (Tennessee), Shane Beamer (South Carolina), Lane Kiffin (Ole Miss), Brian Kelly (LSU), Nick Saban (Alabama) and Kirby Smart (Georgia) ranked ahead of Freeze in his list of the top 50 head coaches in college football heading into the 2023 season.

Freeze is ranked No. 38 overall.

The Tigers kick off the 2023 season on September 2nd at home vs UMass at 2 p.m. CT on ESPN.

Here's a look at the entire 2023 schedule:

Sept. 2nd vs UMass

Sept. 9th at California

Sept. 16th vs Samford

Sept. 23rd at Texas A&M

Sept. 30th vs Georgia

Oct. 14th at LSU

Oct. 21st vs Ole Miss

Oct. 28th vs Mississippi State

Nov. 4th at Vanderbilt

Nov. 11th at Arkansas

Nov. 18th vs New Mexico State

Nov. 25th vs Alabama

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Auburn is pushing hard after "one of the best players in the country"

Andrew Stefaniak

2–3 minutes

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Auburn is going after class of 2024 five-star athlete KJ Bolden. 

Bolden will likely play safety in college but does play both sides of the ball in high school. 

He recently released a list of his top five schools, including Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama, and Auburn. 

Locked On recruiting expert Brain Smith joined the Locked On Auburn Podcast to discuss where the Tigers stand with Bolden. 

Smith had this to say, "KJ's one of the best players in the country. He's at one of the best programs in the country, and he's also one of the best kids in the country. Most five-star players, once you get to this point, don't want to talk to you as much. They get bombarded enough by the Kirby Smarts and everybody else of the world. The Ohio State defensive back coach that he would be playing under is a relative of his. Lot of people thought it was Ohio State, but he's in Georgia's backyard, so maybe he'll go to Georgia. Well, now Auburn is really trending, and I asked him about it, and he said the one visit that he took, he loved the campus, he loved the vibe and everything, and I'm like, whoa, I did not expect that. I just wanted to ask him about it. I've met him a few times, and he's got Auburn right there with them. It was the outlier I didn't expect, but that's why recruiting is fun; you just never know. If they can get him back on campus this fall for a game that would go a long way. I think if they can get him on campus down on the Plains, they got a really good shot at this kid." 

It's exciting to see Auburn back in the conversation with some of the best talent in the nation. 

Bolden is a great player that would compete for playing time the second he steps foot on campus if he chose Auburn. 

Hopefully, Coach Freeze can finish the job and land one of the most talented players in the 2024 class. 

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Auburn football is revamping their receiving core - and it's starting to look scary

Lance Dawe

5–6 minutes

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Auburn football's passing offense was lacking last season, to say the least.

Most of the struggles to put the ball in the air revolved around poor quarterback play and an egregious offensive line.

The receiver room wasn't great, but by no means was it bailing out the other two phases of the passing attack. All of this could be somewhat excused by the poor coaching on that side of the ball, but I digress.

Since Hugh Freeze entered the picture last November the Tigers' three phases of the passing game have improved on paper.

Auburn got their transfer quarterback in Payton Thorne. The offensive line added three portal prospects and a handful through the freshman recruiting class. Those two positions have been the primary focus for the past couple of months.

It feels like the actual pass-catchers Auburn has obtained are going unnoticed, with now three players having committed through the portal... and potentially a couple more on the way.

The wide receiver core caught some flack online during spring practice from some major outlets, and even head coach Hugh Freeze had voiced his thoughts on how he needed to see more progression from the players.

It's not like receivers such as Camden Brown, Ja'Varrius Johnson and Koy Moore aren't talented. It's just taken a while for the unit to adjust to a new scheme that can competently throw the ball. The addition of a few more pass catchers wouldn't hurt the Tigers overall depth.

Here's a look at the transfer portal prospects and commits the Tigers have as well as the currently receivers on roster:

Transfer Prospects/Commits

Jyaire Shorter - North Texas

Shorter has played 30 games over the course of five seasons for the Mean Green (three of those seasons he played two games or less), collecting 1,320 yards and 20 touchdowns on just 58 receptions, ending his UNT career with an impressive 22.8 yards per catch. Shorter caught 23 passes for 628 yards, an average of 27.3 yards per reception.

Montana Lemonious-Craig - Colorado

Lemonious-Craig played in all 12 games last season for Colorado and had an amazing Spring game Saturday. Last year Lemonious-Craig caught 23 balls for 359 yards with 3 touchdowns on a team that lost 11 games. His career totals are 34 for 497 and 5 touchdowns in a very anemic offense.

He decided to test the transfer portal waters after he lit up the Spring game for three catches totaling 154 yards and a touchdown.

Keon Coleman - Michigan State

The former four-star played alongside Auburn portal commit Payton Thorne, was the lead receiver for the Spartans last year. He caught 58 passes for 798 yards and seven touchdowns. He caught seven balls for 50 yards and a touchdown in four games during his freshman season.

Caleb Burton - Ohio State (COMMITTED)

The former 4-star Austin, Texas native spent one year with the Ohio State Buckeyes and will have four years of eligibility now at Auburn.

On last year's roster, Ohio State listed Burton at 5-foot-11, 169 pounds. He was recruited to play both the outside and the slot positions when he was coming out of the high school ranks. This is one of Auburn's biggest gets in the portal thus far.

Nick Mardner - Cincinnati (COMMITTED)

Mardner spent three seasons with the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors before transferring to play for the Bearcats. In three years, he accumulated 1,270 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. He had 218 yards and three touchdowns in his lone season with Luke Fickell and Cinci. He was coached by former Auburn pass-catcher and new receivers coach Marcus Davis.

The Tigers have been looking for a strong outside target in the transfer portal and Mardner may be that pickup - standing at 6-foot-6, 190 pounds, he could end up being a versatile pickup.

His breakout season included 913 yards and five touchdowns in 2021, a season where he averaged 19.8 yards per catch.

Rivaldo Fairweather - FIU (COMMITTED)

Fairweather had 838 receiving yards and five touchdowns during his time at FIU and was the third-highest rated TE in the transfer portal. Another valuable get for Hugh Freeze's offense. Fairweather was one of the more consistent pass-catchers during spring.

Rest of Receiver Room

Koy Moore (562 career receiving yards)

Camden Brown (123 career receiving yards)

Jay Fair (34 career receiving yards)

Ja'Varrius Johnson (767 career receiving yards)

Malcolm Johnson Jr (110 career receiving yards)

Omari Kelly (56 career receiving yards)

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Wright wants to be ‘one of the greats’

AUBURN | Jake Thornton could see the potential in Jeremiah Wright from the start.

Auburn’s first-year offensive line coach said as much to Wright not long after he was hired away from Ole Miss last December.

“He said I can be one of the most dominant O-linemen in this league,” said Wright.

Wright could be a big part of a resurgent Auburn offensive line. (Austin Perryman/Auburn athletics)

But it’s a process for Wright to reach the level that Thornton believes he can play. It helps that Wright has finally settled at offensive guard after shuffling between defensive line and offensive line during his first couple of years at Auburn.

“I think he plays with toughness. He tries to finish,” said Thornton. “I do believe he's still learning how to play offensive line. He went back and forth from my understanding the last couple of years.

“So, I'm certainly excited to get him molded as an offensive lineman through an entire spring, summer and fall camp and I certainly think he can be a big-time factor and he's got all the physical traits. And I think he's developing the mentality to be one of the better ones in this league.”

Wright, a 6-foot-5 and 338-pound junior, was limited during spring with an injury but that didn’t keep him from learning the new offense and working on his fundamentals.

He’s got the physical part down when he’s on the field. Off the field, he’s one of AU’s most personable players.

“I don't even know where it comes from. My mom, she's real hard on me, my mom and grandma real hard,” said Wright. “When I'm on the field, it's just like a different person. You're going to know I'm there.”

Offensive guard should be one of the team’s most competitive position battles this fall. In addition to Wright, senior Kameron Stutts, junior Tate Johnson, junior Jaden Muskrat and freshman Connor Lew are all expected to battle for one of two starting positions.

Wright’s got a plan to be at his best going into fall drills.

"Just get my footwork, technique, everything down. I want to be one of the greats to do it,” he said.