7.20.23 Football Articles

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247sports.com

 

Auburn senior describes differences among Freeze Harsin Malzahn

Nathan King

8–10 minutes

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Hugh Freeze is the third head coach in the careers of all three of Auburn's SEC Media Days representatives

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Auburn’s trio of SEC Media Days representatives will obviously all be coached by Hugh Freeze in 2023. And to all three, Freeze is the third head coach of their careers.

Outside linebacker transfer Elijah McAllister is entering his first season with the program but played under both Derek Mason and Clark Lea at Vanderbilt. At Auburn, tight end Luke Deal and offensive guard Kameron Stutts signed with and played for Gus Malzahn, went through one coaching change to the failed Bryan Harsin era, then stuck around for the start of Freeze’s tenure.

“I think all three of them are different people personally, but that's good,” Deal said Tuesday in Nashville. “I've gotten to know three of them personally. That's something that in college football, getting to know people, getting to know their background — like I said with our players, it's no different for coaches. They're people too.”

Deal signed in 2019, playing under Malzahn for two seasons before he was let go at the conclusion of a 6-4 regular season. Harsin was hired later that December, and Deal was a fixture in the Tigers’ offense under Harsin for the past two seasons before he, too, was fired last Halloween after four straight losses and a 9-12 record overall in less than two full seasons.

“Definitely three great leaders, three different leaders,” Deal said of his three head coaches. “Coach Malzahn always was a little quieter, but once you got to know him and once you understood what he stood for and how much he cared for you, then that was what it was and that was your relationship. Same thing with Coach Harsin. Coach Harsin was more outgoing than people think. I give him props for that. I got to know him, as well.”

Deal said he connected with Freeze quickly over their shared love for NASCAR and golf. Considering his media days selection, the fifth-year senior tight end has made a strong impression on the program’s new leader — and vice versa, as Deal has an experienced grasp at this point on what makes a successful Auburn coach.

“Coach Freeze is always a positive energy, a positive light in the meeting room, and that's something that's really refreshing for everybody,” Deal said. “I've appreciated all three of those (head coaches), learning under them.”

Added Stutts: “He comes into work every day with a positive attitude.”

Deal said he remembers the uncertainty in the month following Harsin’s firing, as he and his teammates wondered which direction Auburn’s leadership would lean for a coaching hire. The fact that Freeze already has a stint in the SEC was the first thing that stood out to returning veterans on the roster like Deal.

“Experience in the SEC is always a positive,” Deal said. “We were sitting there figuring out, OK, who’s going to be our coach? We’re a lot more assured now knowing who we have here, knowing what he’s about.”

What has Freeze been about in his eight months on the job thus far?

"He’s a laid-back guy, and he’s got a good sense of humor,” Deal said. “... He’s an interesting dude, he really is. If you get to know him, sit down and talk to him, he’s just a really good guy.”

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Auburn hopes to 'constantly recreate' feeling from Cadillac Williams' run as interim coach

"Coach Lac, he's an incredible man, incredible ambassador for the school, has been for a long time. People with orange and blue in their blood, they want to see him around forever."

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Eight months later, there’s still some energy left over from that night in Jordan-Hare Stadium, wafting above the new practice facility. It’s most concentrated above Cadillac Williams’ office.

The Tigers have completely turned the page from the 2022 season, sure, with fall camp two weeks away, and well inside two months until the start of the Hugh Freeze era. But at this year’s SEC Media Days in Nashville, Auburn’s 13-10 victory over Texas A&M may have been the most inconsequential game — relative to the rest of the conference in terms of its result — that was brought up several days over the course of the Tigers’ time in the spotlight Tuesday.

That is, of course, because it was so emblematic of how Williams, in an interim role, began to steer Auburn back in the right direction weeks before the program hired a new head coach to replace Bryan Harsin.

“People may not understand how pivotal that was for us,” fifth-year senior tight end Luke Deal said Tuesday. “I would argue that this football program, this team, this university, this town has still built off of that moment, off of those games, off of that energy. That's what we're going to take into next season. That kind of energy, that kind of unity is something that you build on hopefully for years to come. So it's been huge.”

Williams went 2-2 as Auburn’s interim head coach, including a loss at Mississippi State where the Tigers came back from down 21 points and forced overtime, and a home victory over Texas A&M in one of the loudest, most electric nights in Jordan-Hare Stadium in recent memory — for a game between a pair of 3-6 teams.

But entirely separate from any on-the-field results, the mood around the program and in the building had been raised by Williams’ humble and simple manta: serve, discipline and believe. A sunken Auburn squad lost four straight games earlier in the season and could have packed it in after their head coach was fired — but instead responded to Williams’ leadership with reinvigorated passion and intensity that, according to one of their senior leaders, still permeates within the walls of the football complex in mid July.

“Whenever you saw he had the spotlight on him as a coach, you saw that positive energy,” Deal said of Williams. “You saw that positive light, that positive outlook on everything in life. That was something that energized us. It motivated us. That's something that he brings every single day.”

(Kyle Okita, 247Sports)

Both Williams and athletic director John Cohen confirmed Williams interviewed for the head coaching job, and in November, Williams joked that Cohen and university president Christopher Roberts looked more disappointed than him when they delivered the news that he didn’t get the position.

But Freeze’s first priority after being hired, he said at his introductory press conference, was to retain Williams on his staff: “I’ve got to have Cadillac at my side.” Williams was promoted to associate head coach, where, in his words, he has a “seat at the table” for major team decisions, and can also serve as a constant line of counsel for Freeze in their attempt to revive Auburn back into a championship-contending program.

Keeping the former All-SEC running back on staff and repeatedly praising his impact on the program were the first wins of Freeze’s Auburn tenure — and he would have been dealing with a disgruntled fanbase right off the bat if he hadn’t done so.

“People are going to be pretty upset if you get rid of Cadillac Williams” Deal said. “I know I would be. Coach Lac, he's an incredible man, incredible ambassador for the school, has been for a long time. People with orange and blue in their blood, they want to see him around forever. That was definitely important for our success.”

At SEC Media Days, Freeze retold the story of watching Auburn beat Texas A&M under Williams, and how the fanbase responded to one of their program’s icons at the helm. To Freeze, Williams not only represented what he believes Auburn stands for, but reminded the rest of the college football world, too.

“You started hearing and seeing what was going on at Auburn (under Harsin), and hearing that this isn’t Auburn,” Freeze said. “And I remember vividly Cadillac taking over and watching the Texas A&M game. And that atmosphere in that stadium that night — I remember looking at Jill and saying, ‘It’s still Auburn.’ I hope the passion they played with down the stretch, I hope that’s a staple of something we can constantly recreate every Saturday.”

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auburnwire.usatoday.com

QB update: Is there a frontrunner?

Taylor Jones

~3 minutes

When a new head coach enters the SEC, his first appearance at SEC Media Days is usually filled with plenty of exciting questions.

Hugh Freeze’s experience was no different as he took the stage for the first time as Auburn’s head coach on Tuesday at Grand Hyatt in Nashville. One topic of discussion was the ongoing quarterback battle between incumbent Robby Ashford and Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne.

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Freeze admitted that he has not seen Thorne throw with his own eyes yet, but is pleased with the competition he brings to the room, as well as his exhibited leadership.

“Obviously, we want to create competition in the room. That’s why we brought in Payton (Thorne), who’s had great experiences,” Freeze said Tuesday. “I think what he adds to that room right now is incredible leadership. One of the first things he did was come in and say, ‘Coach, is there any way someone can give me a sheet of paper that has a picture of everyone that works in this building because I want to learn everyone’s name? That’s the type of leader he is.”

On the other side, Freeze says that Ashford is valuable to the program and has responded well to the competition.

“We’ve challenged Robby (Ashford) since I’ve been here to elevate what comes with being the quarterback at Auburn,” Freeze said. “And I think he’s responding, mostly positive with that.”

It is clear that the competition will be between Ashford and Thorne, but when will the competition be decided? Freeze documents the plan that he, offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery, and offensive analyst Kent Austin are orchestrating.

“We’ve got to have a 10-day plan with three guys getting some reps and then it’s got to go down to two guys, and hopefully all of them will handle the competition aspects of it well, but that’ll tell us a lot about that,” Freeze said.

Thorne joins the program after a three-year stint at Michigan State, where he passed for 49 touchdowns. Ashford returns for his second season at Auburn after throwing for 1,613 yards and seven touchdowns in 2022.

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si.com

Takeo Spikes: Auburn's quarterback battle looking 'wide open' heading into fall camp

Lance Dawe

5–6 minutes

It seems that the longer SEC Media Days has gone on, the more people have begun to talk about Auburn quarterback Robby Ashford.

Ashford is projected to be the backup quarterback to Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne this fall, but some media members are beginning to sing a different tune, praising Ashford for his upside and athleticism.

Could there be an upset brewing in the Tigers' quarterback competition?

SEC Network's Takeo Spikes joined Zac Blackerby on the Locked On Auburn podcast to discuss Hugh Freeze and the Tigers heading into fall camp.

Spikes was asked about what his biggest takeaway from Auburn's time at media days was.

"I was surprised and excited to hear Hugh come out and say out of all of the athletes that he's ever coached, that Robby Ashford was the best athlete that he's ever seen," Spikes said. "And so with that being said, I had to uncover a little bit on that. And so for me, it just tells me that he's more than capable of getting the job done, even though he only completed 50% of his passes last year. And I throw out last year because Robby is raw. And so now we all know Hugh as not only as the quarterback whisperer, but as a player developer. And that's something that we have not had at Auburn at least going back five to seven years. So I'm excited to see not only what he's going to do in that quarterback room, but overall with the entire roster by bringing in different guys."

Ashford spent his first two seasons at Oregon, where he did not see the field. He transferred in to Auburn in 2022 and earned the backup role to TJ Finley to begin the season. He essentially split time with Finley on the field through the first two weeks.

Following Finley's injury in week three vs Penn State, Ashford took over the starting role and never relinquished it - completing only 49.2% of his passes on the season but showing serious promise as a dual-threat - churning out over 700 rushing yards and solidifying himself as the best option in Auburn's quarterback room heading into 2023.

Hugh Freeze, known to develop quarterbacks well, should be able to elevate Ashford's passing game. If the Tigers decide to ride with him as starter, and Freeze is able to round him out as a true quarterback, he could be a serious problem in the SEC next season.

The athleticism is more than there. Polishing up his mechanics is the next step.

Dari Nowkhah also joined Blackerby on his podcast and said that he was "not as sold" on Payton Thorne winning the job over Ashford this fall.

Blackerby asked Spikes about the competition, saying that it feels pretty wide open heading into camp.

"Oh yeah. No, no, it definitely is open," Spikes said. "But at the end of the day, you don't go out and get Payton Thorne from Michigan State if you're solidified at the quarterback position. So, you know, the big thing that I really love is that he's bringing in competition to be able to make guys focus at a higher level that they thought they never could attain. What it's also going to do is bring out the better play in other guys. Like he went and got a bunch of transfers at wide receiver. We don't know how good the wide receivers are because that's predicated on another man getting him the ball. So that's what I'm talking about. It breeds competition across the room."

SEC Media Days is being hosted this year in Nashville, Tennessee for the very first time.

Auburn Daily is here covering Media Days all week long. You can catch updates, quotes, predictions and more here on auburndaily.com.

Auburn football announces start time for 2023 fall camp

Daily Wire's Jake Crain predicts Auburn to finish third in SEC West

Jayden Daniels shared his thoughts on playing in Jordan-Hare Stadium

Jake Crain believes Auburn football can be 'sneaky' under Hugh Freeze

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey discusses the elimination of divisions in future conference scheduling

College football expert 'doesn't see' eight wins on Auburn football's 2023 schedule

Hugh Freeze provides updates for Auburn players injured in the spring

Auburn's Hugh Freeze says new QB Payton Thorne has impressed with his 'attention to detail'

Hugh Freeze: 'Robby Ashford helps us win football games'

Hugh Freeze provides timeline for Auburn football quarterback battle

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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wrbl.com

Auburn’s Luke Deal preparing for fifth season on the Plains a year after his father’s death

Josiah Elmore

3–4 minutes

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WHNT) — In four seasons on the Plains, Deal has been through several ups and downs.

More News from WRBL

He’s been through three head coaches, four offensive coordinators and three different quarterbacks. Deal received in degree in political science and married his wife, Ansley.

But, the most difficult of it all was the loss of his father, Chris.

Chris Deal passed away in June 2022 from ALS, a progressive neurological disease that results in the death of nerve cells called motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Over 5,000 in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS each year. Currently, there is no cure for the disease.

Representing the Tigers at SEC Media Days, Deal sported a blue ribbon on his coat collar to show his support for those battling the disease and spoke up about his father’s death.

“It’s helped mold me,” said Deal. “Seeing someone at their lowest point physically, ALS does that to you, I’ve got the ALS awareness ribbon on for a reason. It’s a horrible disease. It takes everything from your body.”

Like Luke, Chris Deal played football, starring as a student-athlete at Lenoir-
Rhyne University, a division 2 school, in Hickory, NC. Chris was a 4-year starter and All-Conference football player.

“Someone who was a big football player like my dad and a big strong, loud guy for everything to be taken from you is something that is heartbreaking,” said Deal. “But to see how he responded, to see how he led our family even at his lowest physical point it was something that I’ll never forget, and some of his last days I learned some of the most valuable lessons I’ll ever learn in life and hopefully take that in leadership with this team and with my family at home.”

Deal is expected to be a leader on a team that will feature nearly 45 new faces between high school and transfer player commits. He will attempt to help lead the team through the coaching change and get them back to where they believe Auburn should be.

“Being able to be one of those leaders is something I’ve dreamed about for a long time,” said Deal. “There’s nothing like having the respect of your teammates, having the respect of your teammates to the point where they will follow you anywhere. That’s kind of what I want to be done. We’ve got a really good core group of leaders, we’ve got guys that have been there and done it before and really the biggest thing for us is just keep on building on our winning culture.

While he has been through a lot during his career, Deal sees his role in his fifth season on the Plains as a blessing, not a responsibility.

“I’m so blessed and excited just to be able to lead these guys and get to know these guys on a deeper level,” said Deal.

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247sports.com

 

Why Payton Thorne brings 'it factor' to Auburn QB competition

Nathan King

9–12 minutes

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“He’s a veteran quarterback, and you can tell."

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Luke Deal has seen more than his fair share of quarterback competitions within Auburn’s offense.

From Bo Nix, Joey Gatewood, Malik Willis, T.J. Finley and Robby Ashford, the Tigers’ fifth-year senior tight end will get to experience one last QB race in his final college season, beginning in just a couple weeks when Auburn begins fall camp. Ashford, the incumbent starter, will challenge experienced transfer Payton Thorne from Michigan State, as Hugh Freeze looks to raise Auburn’s passing game from the depths of inefficiency it fell to as the Bryan Harsin regime spiraled to a conclusion.

After entering the portal at the 11th hour as a grad transfer, Thorne reported to Auburn in mid May. The Tigers don’t begin full preseason practices until Aug. 3, but Thorne has been working with members of Auburn’s offense in player-led practices and obviously in summer workouts and conditioning alongside his new teammates.

“He’s a veteran quarterback, and you can tell,” Deal said Tuesday at SEC Media Days. “He’s got the swagger to him, he’s got that ‘it’ factor when it comes down to experience.”

Thorne brings 26 games of starting experience to new offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery’s quarterback room, throwing 49 touchdown passes with the Spartans to 24 picks, with a 61 percent career completion rate.

Freeze said Tuesday on the main stage in Nashville that one of the biggest things that’s impressed him about Thorne has been his immediate impact as a leader. When he arrived, Thorne asked for pictures of every employee in Auburn’s new football facility so he could recognize and call everyone by name.

“He’s what, a two-time captain at Michigan State — and rightfully so,” Deal said. “I think a lot of the guys trust him, and that’s the main thing on a new team, especially a team with some older guys on it. … He's got that savvy quarterback demeanor that you look for in a quarterback. He's somebody that I think will help us. One way or another, he'll help us in our strides this year.”

Of course, Thorne, Ashford and redshirt freshman Holden Geriner have been preparing all summer for the start of a crucial competition in August. Thorne seemingly spent every day at the Tigers’ practice fields after arriving, developing a rapport with his new receivers, tight ends and running backs, while Ashford is enjoying a healthy offseason of work with his teammates after dealing with several injuries from head to toe in his nine starts last year.

“I see all of them out there getting in extra work,” offensive guard Kameron Stutts said. “It’s going to be really fun this fall.”

Freeze said he approached Montgomery and analyst Kent Austin earlier this month to hash out a blueprint for how the QB race will break down this preseason. Reps will be spread evenly at first, but Freeze said after 10 practices, it won’t be realistic to be working more than two quarterbacks — presumably Thorne and Ashford — in the first-team offense, as important scrimmages take place and Week 1 fast approaches.

“That's going to be a challenge for us, not because — I'm very truthfully a lot more optimistic than most people are,” Freeze said of his QB situation with Thorne now in the fold. “I think we've got a good room. But I'm an optimist. We've been able to do things with quarterbacks everywhere we've been and produce good enough results to win. I thought spring practice, we got better there. Obviously we want to create competition in that room. That's why we brought in Payton, who's had great experiences.”

The projection by many has been that Thorne will ultimately win out — either at the end of camp or a couple games into the season — due to his significant advantage in experience and production as a passer at the Power Five level.

But despite his inefficient numbers in 2022, Ashford flashed his dual-threat ability as a dynamic player, and Freeze has only seen improvement from the former Oregon transfer since taking over as his coach.

“We’ve challenged Robby since I’ve been here to elevate what comes with being the quarterback at Auburn,” Freeze said Tuesday morning when meeting with local reporters. “And I think he’s responding, mostly positive with that. We haven’t been in the fires yet. We haven’t been in the competition yet to see how everyone is going to respond. Not just Robby. It’s going to be everyone, how do they handle it? This is life. On great teams, you’re never going to be the only guy that should be competing. Hopefully, he handles it well because I do think Robby Ashford helps us win football games.”

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Auburn hopes to 'constantly recreate' feeling from Cadillac Williams' run as interim coach

"Coach Lac, he's an incredible man, incredible ambassador for the school, has been for a long time. People with orange and blue in their blood, they want to see him around forever."

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Eight months later, there’s still some energy left over from that night in Jordan-Hare Stadium, wafting above the new practice facility. It’s most concentrated above Cadillac Williams’ office.

The Tigers have completely turned the page from the 2022 season, sure, with fall camp two weeks away, and well inside two months until the start of the Hugh Freeze era. But at this year’s SEC Media Days in Nashville, Auburn’s 13-10 victory over Texas A&M may have been the most inconsequential game — relative to the rest of the conference in terms of its result — that was brought up several days over the course of the Tigers’ time in the spotlight Tuesday.

That is, of course, because it was so emblematic of how Williams, in an interim role, began to steer Auburn back in the right direction weeks before the program hired a new head coach to replace Bryan Harsin.

“People may not understand how pivotal that was for us,” fifth-year senior tight end Luke Deal said Tuesday. “I would argue that this football program, this team, this university, this town has still built off of that moment, off of those games, off of that energy. That's what we're going to take into next season. That kind of energy, that kind of unity is something that you build on hopefully for years to come. So it's been huge.”

Williams went 2-2 as Auburn’s interim head coach, including a loss at Mississippi State where the Tigers came back from down 21 points and forced overtime, and a home victory over Texas A&M in one of the loudest, most electric nights in Jordan-Hare Stadium in recent memory — for a game between a pair of 3-6 teams.

But entirely separate from any on-the-field results, the mood around the program and in the building had been raised by Williams’ humble and simple manta: serve, discipline and believe. A sunken Auburn squad lost four straight games earlier in the season and could have packed it in after their head coach was fired — but instead responded to Williams’ leadership with reinvigorated passion and intensity that, according to one of their senior leaders, still permeates within the walls of the football complex in mid July.

“Whenever you saw he had the spotlight on him as a coach, you saw that positive energy,” Deal said of Williams. “You saw that positive light, that positive outlook on everything in life. That was something that energized us. It motivated us. That's something that he brings every single day.”

(Kyle Okita, 247Sports)

Both Williams and athletic director John Cohen confirmed Williams interviewed for the head coaching job, and in November, Williams joked that Cohen and university president Christopher Roberts looked more disappointed than him when they delivered the news that he didn’t get the position.

But Freeze’s first priority after being hired, he said at his introductory press conference, was to retain Williams on his staff: “I’ve got to have Cadillac at my side.” Williams was promoted to associate head coach, where, in his words, he has a “seat at the table” for major team decisions, and can also serve as a constant line of counsel for Freeze in their attempt to revive Auburn back into a championship-contending program.

Keeping the former All-SEC running back on staff and repeatedly praising his impact on the program were the first wins of Freeze’s Auburn tenure — and he would have been dealing with a disgruntled fanbase right off the bat if he hadn’t done so.

“People are going to be pretty upset if you get rid of Cadillac Williams” Deal said. “I know I would be. Coach Lac, he's an incredible man, incredible ambassador for the school, has been for a long time. People with orange and blue in their blood, they want to see him around forever. That was definitely important for our success.”

At SEC Media Days, Freeze retold the story of watching Auburn beat Texas A&M under Williams, and how the fanbase responded to one of their program’s icons at the helm. To Freeze, Williams not only represented what he believes Auburn stands for, but reminded the rest of the college football world, too.

“You started hearing and seeing what was going on at Auburn (under Harsin), and hearing that this isn’t Auburn,” Freeze said. “And I remember vividly Cadillac taking over and watching the Texas A&M game. And that atmosphere in that stadium that night — I remember looking at Jill and saying, ‘It’s still Auburn.’ I hope the passion they played with down the stretch, I hope that’s a staple of something we can constantly recreate every Saturday.”

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247sports.com

 

Freeze says change needed for Auburn program to move forward

Jason Caldwell

8–10 minutes

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Auburn's Hugh Freeze talks about flipping the script on the Plains.

NASHVILLE, Tennessee—Taking over an Auburn program that has lost four or more games in nine straight seasons, Hugh Freeze said the first order of business wasn’t rebuilding the roster or finding a quarterback. The first order of business for Freeze was convincing those inside and around the program that it was time for a change and not to just keep doing more of the same.

“The first thing that I think had to be flipped was the mindset, because I really believe as a man thinketh, so he is,” Freeze said. “What do we think about ourselves at Auburn, and they had heard so much and will hear so much about what people's opinion are or where you should be picked to finish and all of these things. But man, we first have to rewire the way we think. That's the first thing that I think needed to be flipped, and that's why I chose that as the spring theme.”

The mentality was the first thing that had to change for Auburn to move forward under Freeze, but without some changes to the roster the opportunity to win right away probably wasn’t going to happen. It’s still not a guarantee with the Tigers again facing one of the nation’s toughest schedules, but Freeze said they wanted to create more competition across the board

“I don't want to be negative,” Freeze said. “Just, it was off from what I believe an Auburn roster should look like. Recruiting has been a little more challenging than I thought for Auburn, because of what I believe Auburn should be and what it's proven it can be. It's, what, one of six teams that has played in two national championship games in the last 13 years or so? I mean, that's pretty recent.

“I want to be careful not to -- I love our team. They're my team. They're Auburn's team. We're going to coach the heck out of them. Does our roster from top to bottom look like Alabama's,

Georgia's, LSU's, Florida, A&M, Ole Miss? I don't know yet. I know a couple they don't because I've watched the tape.

“Do I think we've improved Auburn with the additions that we've had since I've been there? Yes. Does that mean we close the gap at all? I have no clue. I do know we improved Auburn, and I hope that means that we somehow close the gap enough to -- if we have a good game plan, to be in some of those games in the fourth quarter and have maybe a shot to pull an upset.”

With a month to try to mesh together several transfer newcomers to a group that is still picking up things installed during spring practices, Freeze admits this will likely be a season of ups and downs. As long as he sees effort and improvement, that’s all he can ask for in year number one on the Plains.

"Well, I think our program is a work in progress,” he said. “I think anybody that has followed it will say that. I'm OK with that, and they've got to be OK with that. We're really going to have to stay tunnel visioned on what today brings. I'm not a big goal setter, I don't believe in that. I believe in what we can do today to get better. If we can stay there, then hopefully from Game 1 to Game 12 there's considerable improvement."

Auburn hopes to 'constantly recreate' feeling from Cadillac Williams' run as interim coach

"Coach Lac, he's an incredible man, incredible ambassador for the school, has been for a long time. People with orange and blue in their blood, they want to see him around forever."

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Eight months later, there’s still some energy left over from that night in Jordan-Hare Stadium, wafting above the new practice facility. It’s most concentrated above Cadillac Williams’ office.

The Tigers have completely turned the page from the 2022 season, sure, with fall camp two weeks away, and well inside two months until the start of the Hugh Freeze era. But at this year’s SEC Media Days in Nashville, Auburn’s 13-10 victory over Texas A&M may have been the most inconsequential game — relative to the rest of the conference in terms of its result — that was brought up several days over the course of the Tigers’ time in the spotlight Tuesday.

That is, of course, because it was so emblematic of how Williams, in an interim role, began to steer Auburn back in the right direction weeks before the program hired a new head coach to replace Bryan Harsin.

“People may not understand how pivotal that was for us,” fifth-year senior tight end Luke Deal said Tuesday. “I would argue that this football program, this team, this university, this town has still built off of that moment, off of those games, off of that energy. That's what we're going to take into next season. That kind of energy, that kind of unity is something that you build on hopefully for years to come. So it's been huge.”

Williams went 2-2 as Auburn’s interim head coach, including a loss at Mississippi State where the Tigers came back from down 21 points and forced overtime, and a home victory over Texas A&M in one of the loudest, most electric nights in Jordan-Hare Stadium in recent memory — for a game between a pair of 3-6 teams.

But entirely separate from any on-the-field results, the mood around the program and in the building had been raised by Williams’ humble and simple manta: serve, discipline and believe. A sunken Auburn squad lost four straight games earlier in the season and could have packed it in after their head coach was fired — but instead responded to Williams’ leadership with reinvigorated passion and intensity that, according to one of their senior leaders, still permeates within the walls of the football complex in mid July.

“Whenever you saw he had the spotlight on him as a coach, you saw that positive energy,” Deal said of Williams. “You saw that positive light, that positive outlook on everything in life. That was something that energized us. It motivated us. That's something that he brings every single day.”

(Kyle Okita, 247Sports)

Both Williams and athletic director John Cohen confirmed Williams interviewed for the head coaching job, and in November, Williams joked that Cohen and university president Christopher Roberts looked more disappointed than him when they delivered the news that he didn’t get the position.

But Freeze’s first priority after being hired, he said at his introductory press conference, was to retain Williams on his staff: “I’ve got to have Cadillac at my side.” Williams was promoted to associate head coach, where, in his words, he has a “seat at the table” for major team decisions, and can also serve as a constant line of counsel for Freeze in their attempt to revive Auburn back into a championship-contending program.

Keeping the former All-SEC running back on staff and repeatedly praising his impact on the program were the first wins of Freeze’s Auburn tenure — and he would have been dealing with a disgruntled fanbase right off the bat if he hadn’t done so.

“People are going to be pretty upset if you get rid of Cadillac Williams” Deal said. “I know I would be. Coach Lac, he's an incredible man, incredible ambassador for the school, has been for a long time. People with orange and blue in their blood, they want to see him around forever. That was definitely important for our success.”

At SEC Media Days, Freeze retold the story of watching Auburn beat Texas A&M under Williams, and how the fanbase responded to one of their program’s icons at the helm. To Freeze, Williams not only represented what he believes Auburn stands for, but reminded the rest of the college football world, too.

“You started hearing and seeing what was going on at Auburn (under Harsin), and hearing that this isn’t Auburn,” Freeze said. “And I remember vividly Cadillac taking over and watching the Texas A&M game. And that atmosphere in that stadium that night — I remember looking at Jill and saying, ‘It’s still Auburn.’ I hope the passion they played with down the stretch, I hope that’s a staple of something we can constantly recreate every Saturday.”

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al.com

Auburn injury and roster updates, DeMario Tolan: Notes from Hugh Freeze at SEC Media Days

Updated: Jul. 19, 2023, 2:11 p.m.|Published: Jul. 19, 2023, 10:50 a.m.

3–4 minutes

Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze speaks during NCAA college football Southeastern Conference Media Days, Tuesday, July 18, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)AP

In SEC Media Days press conferences with local media and national media, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze provided various updates on his roster and program as the beginning of fall camp quickly approaches.

Below, we have a notebook of news and notes from Freeze’s day in Nashville.

DeMario Tolan

Last Wednesday, AL.com first reported linebacker DeMario Tolan was no longer part of the Auburn program. Tolan transferred to Auburn this offseason from LSU.

The circumstances around his departure still are unconfirmed. Freeze was asked about Tolan during a meeting with local reporters.

“DeMario’s dealing with some personal family issues,” Freeze said. “We want to support him every way we can to make sure he is in the best spot possible for him and his family.”

Freeze said it is still to be determined if Tolan could return to the team.

Injury updates

Freeze rattled off a few injury updates heading into fall camp:

Junior USF transfer running back Brian Battie (toe) is going to “suck it up and go” at fall camp, Freeze said. Battie dealt with the injury during spring practices but did play in the A-Day spring game. Battie had surgery, Freeze said, and he wishes Battie’s recovery was going a bit quicker.

Sophomore cornerback JD Rhym is “back and going,” Freeze said. Rhym missed most of spring practices with an undisclosed injury but was seen wearing a boot at the practice fields, AL.com previously reported.

Tate Johnson (elbow) is healthy, Freeze said.

Senior North Texas transfer wide receiver Jyaire Shorter is going to be limited. “We’re going to have to manage Shorter some,” Freeze said. Junior wide receiver Malcolm Johnson is “good.”

Junior offensive lineman Jeremiah Wright is “good,” Freeze said. So is senior offensive lineman Kameron Stutts.

As a whole, Freeze said Auburn is a “pretty good spot,” with regard to injuries.

Recruit, JuCo transfer working to get on the roster

Two new faces -- junior college transfer defensive lineman Quientrail Jamison-Travis and 247Sports four-star rated freshman receiver Daquayvious Sorey -- are still not on the roster, Freeze said during his meeting with local media.

Freeze said he feels good about Jamison-Travis being able to get onto the team at some point.

“He’s finishing up his work and it looks promising there,” Freeze said.

But he said he’s not feeling “quite as good” about Sorey. Freeze seemed to say Sorey’s situation could be revisited in the future.

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si.com

 

Hugh Freeze provides timeline for Auburn football quarterback battle

Lance Dawe

6–8 minutes

---

Auburn fans want to know who their starting quarterback is going to be this fall.

Most already have an idea, but Freeze has yet to discuss how he and the staff want to approach the battle in August.

Freeze was asked at SEC Media Days about a timeline for the quarterback battle.

"Yeah, I told Ken and Philip yesterday that they need to present to me a plan by next week," Freeze said. 

Auburn's current quarterback room includes incumbent Robby Ashford, who was inconsistent but electric as a freshman a season ago, Holden Geriner, a redshirt freshman and former four-star QB that saw one snap of action a season ago, Hank Brown, a three-star signee in the 2023 cycle, and Payton Thorne, a transfer from Michigan State.

Thorne is currently the projected starter, but Freeze and his staff are electing to have a battle that works its way into fall camp.

"Look, Hank Brown, I love that he can make every throw, but realistically you can't get four kids reps and camp," Freeze said. It's probably is going to be, you know, those other three (quarterbacks) for the first 10 days trying to get enough reps where we get it down to at least two guys and then move from there."

10 days of Ashford, Thorne and Geriner taking reps with the race trimmed to two shortly after.

Here's an in-depth look at Auburn's QB room:

Payton Thorne

Thorne was a two-year starter at Michigan State before transferring to Auburn over the weekend. The Tigers were in search of a new starting quarterback, and the expectation among fans is that Thorne comes in and wins the job in fall camp with (relative) ease.

It's unknown how Hugh Freeze is going to play things out before Auburn takes the field vs UMass, but expect incumbent Robby Ashford to push for the job regardless.

Thorne finished an accomplished quarterback at Michigan State, setting single-season records for total yards, total touchdowns and passing touchdowns. He ranks fifth in career total touchdowns, fifth in career total yards, fourth in career passing touchdowns and third in single-season passing yards.

He's not a dazzling arm talent but was excellent attacking downfield in his two seasons with the Spartans. He's a great system fit for Freeze and Montgomery.

Career pass attempts - 861 (7.5 YPA)

Career pass yards - 4,693 (61.0%)

Career pass touchdowns - 49

Career rush yards - 270

Career rush touchdowns - 6

Best game of career: Vs Pittsburgh (12/30/2021) - 29-of-50 passing, 3 touchdowns, 1 interception

Robby Ashford

Ashford spent his first two seasons at Oregon, where he did not see the field. He transferred in to Auburn in 2022 and earned the backup role to TJ Finley to begin the season. He essentially split time with Finley on the field through the first two weeks.

Following Finley's injury in week three vs Penn State, Ashford took over the starting role and never relinquished it - completing only 49.2% of his passes on the season but showing serious promise as a dual-threat - churning out over 700 rushing yards and solidifying himself as the best option in Auburn's quarterback room heading into 2023.

Hugh Freeze, known to develop quarterbacks well, should be able to elevate Ashford's passing game. If the Tigers decide to ride with him as starter, and Freeze is able to round him out as a true quarterback, he could be a serious problem in the SEC next season.

The athleticism is more than there. Polishing up his mechanics is the next step.

Career attempts completions - 250

Career pass yards - 1,613

Career pass touchdowns - 7

Career rush yards - 710

Career rush touchdowns - 7

Best game of career: At Alabama (11/26/22) - 11-of-23, 77 yards, 1 TD, 17 carries, 121 yards, 2 TD OR Vs LSU (10/1/22) - 19-of-38, 337 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT, 11 carries, 19 yards

Holden Geriner

Geriner now enters his second season with the Tigers after redshirting in 2022.

He recorded a stat in one game - coming in for a drive against Missouri - but did not receive any sort of meaningful playing time.

While raw, it was evident in fall camp that Geriner had the best passing mechanics in Auburn's quarterback room. It will be interesting to see how Hugh Freeze works with Geriner - or, if Freeze decides to bring in a QB from the portal, Geriner may decide to transfer himself. The former four-star quarterback has talent and could work well in a system like Freeze's.

Career pass attempts- 3

Career pass yards - 8

Career passing touchdowns - N/A

Career rush yards - N/A

Career rush touchdowns - N/A

Best game of career: N/A

Hank Brown

The Baby Goat himself.

Brown joins the 2023 Auburn football quarterback room as a three-star freshman from Lipscomb Academy in Nashville, Tennessee.

Originally committed to Liberty, the 6-foot-4, 195 pound signal-caller won't be involved in the race this season, but should expect to compete with 2024 four-star commit Walker White in future seasons.

Career pass attempts- N/A (73.3% as a HS senior)

Career pass yards - 3,264 yards

Career passing touchdowns - 47

Career rush yards - N/A

Career rush touchdowns - N/A

Best game of career: N/A

*All numbers are high school stats.

Daily Wire's Jake Crain predicts Auburn to finish third in SEC West

College football analyst claims there are 'more questions about Auburn than anything else'

Auburn TE Luke Deal 'gets chills' thinking about Cadillac Williams' win over Texas A&M

Jayden Daniels shared his thoughts on playing in Jordan-Hare Stadium

Jake Crain believes Auburn football can be 'sneaky' under Hugh Freeze

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey discusses the elimination of divisions in future conference scheduling

College football expert 'doesn't see' eight wins on Auburn football's 2023 schedule

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

Engage with Auburn Daily on Socials!

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247sports.com

 

PMARSHONAU Auburns Luke Deals lessons in leadership

Phillip Marshall

10–12 minutes

---

• 

• 

#PMARSHONAU: Auburn's Luke Deal's lessons in leadership

Auburn's senior tight end shows the way on and off the field

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Senior Auburn tight end Luke Deal won’t likely be among those chosen on the preseason All-SEC team. He might or might not be a starter on head coach Hugh Freeze’s first Auburn football team.

Yet, Deal was one of three players chosen to represent Auburn at SEC Media Days on Tuesday. That’s because he is the kind of football player and the kind of man that every coach wants on his team.

Deal said Tuesday that Auburn has changed his life in ways that transcend winning and losing football games.

“I think it has set me up for life,” said Deal. “Life definitely throws curveballs at you. It’s how you respond. I have had so many positive moments. People like to focus on the negative. I wouldn’t change anything for the world. Hopefully, it’s made me into a better husband and future father.”

Last season, Deal and his teammates went through a season they never expected when they signed with Auburn. After a 41-27 loss to Arkansas, Auburn’s fourth consecutive loss, second-year head coach Bryan Harsin was fired. But from that grew new hope with the help of interim head coach Cadillac Williams.

“Last year was a tough moment,” Deal said. “What we experienced midway through the year was something not many college football teams experience. It was the way in which we responded, the way Auburn University and the Auburn family responded. Having a sellout crowd against Texas A&M after being that bad is something you don’t see every often. It’s something I was blessed to be a part of it. We are building off of it to this day.

“That was a turning point. It was a very low point in my career, but it has led me to here.”

In June of that year, Deal dealt with something far more difficult than a lost football game or a lost football season. Less than two months after Deal married his wife, Ansley, his father, the man he called his hero, died far too young, finally losing his battle with ALS at the age of 50.

“It was absolutely the most difficult time of my life,” Deal said. “It also has helped mold me. Seeing someone at their lowest ebb does that to you – I have the ALS ribbon on for a reason. It’s a horrible disease. It takes everything from your body. For somebody who was a big football player like my dad and a big, strong, loud guy, to see everything taken from you is something that is heartbreaking.”

Even in tragedy, Luke Deal learned lessons of strength and sacrifice. He proudly wears an ALS ribbon on his lapel.

“To see how he responded, to see how he led our family when he was at his lowest physical point, is something I will never forget,” Deal said. “In his last days, I learned some of the most valuable lessons I will ever learn. I hopefully will take that in leadership with this team and with my family at home.”

Deal has an Auburn degree. He is working on a graduate degree. It didn’t take long for Freeze to recognize Deal has unusual qualities of leadership, compassion and dedication to his team and teammates.

“I just think he’s a quality human being first and foremost who understands the qualities and the core values of our program — faith and attitude and mental toughness and integrity and love,” Freeze said. “He exemplifies those. And he’s tough, loves the game, obviously. I think anytime we go through hardships in life, whether we cause them or they’re through circumstances that come into your life, how you handle those says probably more about you than how you handle all the good times. I see that in him.”

Deal’s teammates see it, too, on the field and off.

“I see the way the kids follow him,” Freeze said. “His voice matters. I wish I could talk him into taking a sixth year and staying with us. I don’t know if I’m going to win that battle or not, but he’s definitely a great human being, man and, obviously, teammate.”

More words of wisdom from Deal:

On NIL’s locker-room impact

“I think it is obviously a challenge. We are human, and we are going to think about those things. Coach Freeze has addressed us and done a really good job with it. He has said operate out of your blessing and not your entitlement. I have carried that with me. NIL is a blessing for us. I have been very fortunate and blessed to things for my family that I couldn’t have without NIL.

“It’s not worrying about other people, not worrying about what this guy or that guy is getting. It is operating out of my blessing.

On Freeze’s arrival as head coach

“We were sitting there figuring out who is going to be our coach. We are much more assured now, knowing who we have here and knowing what he’s about. He’s been in the SEC. He has beaten teams we need to beat. I’ve bought in to what he is saying. Our team has bought into what he is saying.”

On what it will take for Auburn to have a big season

“Really, it is going to take a winning culture and everybody being bought in. There is always a challenge every year with every college football team. That is to get everybody bought in and moving in the same direction.  I think we’ve done a good job of that. We have built relationships. We have brought the young guys along, brought the transfers along. We have some really good leadership. I am excited for it. That’s what is going to bring his back.”

Auburn hopes to 'constantly recreate' feeling from Cadillac Williams' run as interim coach

"Coach Lac, he's an incredible man, incredible ambassador for the school, has been for a long time. People with orange and blue in their blood, they want to see him around forever."

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Eight months later, there’s still some energy left over from that night in Jordan-Hare Stadium, wafting above the new practice facility. It’s most concentrated above Cadillac Williams’ office.

The Tigers have completely turned the page from the 2022 season, sure, with fall camp two weeks away, and well inside two months until the start of the Hugh Freeze era. But at this year’s SEC Media Days in Nashville, Auburn’s 13-10 victory over Texas A&M may have been the most inconsequential game — relative to the rest of the conference in terms of its result — that was brought up several days over the course of the Tigers’ time in the spotlight Tuesday.

That is, of course, because it was so emblematic of how Williams, in an interim role, began to steer Auburn back in the right direction weeks before the program hired a new head coach to replace Bryan Harsin.

“People may not understand how pivotal that was for us,” fifth-year senior tight end Luke Deal said Tuesday. “I would argue that this football program, this team, this university, this town has still built off of that moment, off of those games, off of that energy. That's what we're going to take into next season. That kind of energy, that kind of unity is something that you build on hopefully for years to come. So it's been huge.”

Williams went 2-2 as Auburn’s interim head coach, including a loss at Mississippi State where the Tigers came back from down 21 points and forced overtime, and a home victory over Texas A&M in one of the loudest, most electric nights in Jordan-Hare Stadium in recent memory — for a game between a pair of 3-6 teams.

But entirely separate from any on-the-field results, the mood around the program and in the building had been raised by Williams’ humble and simple manta: serve, discipline and believe. A sunken Auburn squad lost four straight games earlier in the season and could have packed it in after their head coach was fired — but instead responded to Williams’ leadership with reinvigorated passion and intensity that, according to one of their senior leaders, still permeates within the walls of the football complex in mid July.

“Whenever you saw he had the spotlight on him as a coach, you saw that positive energy,” Deal said of Williams. “You saw that positive light, that positive outlook on everything in life. That was something that energized us. It motivated us. That's something that he brings every single day.”

(Kyle Okita, 247Sports)

Both Williams and athletic director John Cohen confirmed Williams interviewed for the head coaching job, and in November, Williams joked that Cohen and university president Christopher Roberts looked more disappointed than him when they delivered the news that he didn’t get the position.

But Freeze’s first priority after being hired, he said at his introductory press conference, was to retain Williams on his staff: “I’ve got to have Cadillac at my side.” Williams was promoted to associate head coach, where, in his words, he has a “seat at the table” for major team decisions, and can also serve as a constant line of counsel for Freeze in their attempt to revive Auburn back into a championship-contending program.

Keeping the former All-SEC running back on staff and repeatedly praising his impact on the program were the first wins of Freeze’s Auburn tenure — and he would have been dealing with a disgruntled fanbase right off the bat if he hadn’t done so.

“People are going to be pretty upset if you get rid of Cadillac Williams” Deal said. “I know I would be. Coach Lac, he's an incredible man, incredible ambassador for the school, has been for a long time. People with orange and blue in their blood, they want to see him around forever. That was definitely important for our success.”

At SEC Media Days, Freeze retold the story of watching Auburn beat Texas A&M under Williams, and how the fanbase responded to one of their program’s icons at the helm. To Freeze, Williams not only represented what he believes Auburn stands for, but reminded the rest of the college football world, too.

“You started hearing and seeing what was going on at Auburn (under Harsin), and hearing that this isn’t Auburn,” Freeze said. “And I remember vividly Cadillac taking over and watching the Texas A&M game. And that atmosphere in that stadium that night — I remember looking at Jill and saying, ‘It’s still Auburn.’ I hope the passion they played with down the stretch, I hope that’s a staple of something we can constantly recreate every Saturday.”

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al.com

How Hugh Freeze addressed his return to the SEC at media days

Updated: Jul. 18, 2023, 9:42 p.m.|Published: Jul. 18, 2023, 7:30 p.m.

~3 minutes

Hugh Freeze talks challenges of rebuilding a program, Auburn culture at SEC Media Days 2023

Hugh Freeze wasn’t sure he’d be back in the SEC. When he resigned from Ole Miss in 2017 in scandal, a return to the conference wasn’t something he had time to think about it.

Frankly, he said it didn’t cross his mind again until he began winning at his Liberty. And now, six years later, Freeze is back.

On Tuesday, the whirlwind of the SEC Media Days -- the eager fans waiting in the lobby, the shuttling around from press conference to press conference, podium to podium, TV interview to social media photoshoot and a flight back to Birmingham right after it all for a speaking event -- hit Hugh Freeze again. It was a day that could have been contentious. The questions on Freeze’s past, as he stood in front of the whole conference’s media, were obvious.

Instead, Freeze handled the day with poise and reflection -- though kept his speech vague in doing so. He described his resignation and the scandals including phone calls to an escort service as “the way it ended.” He didn’t directly discuss the phone calls or other violations found in an investigation into his Ole Miss program.

But Freeze continued with a long remark on what he’s learned in the time between his SEC coaching jobs.

“As time passes and things tend to settle back in and you work through -- I tell people all the time, I think that one of the greatest judges of people, and our players included and the people I come in contact with, are when you experience disappointment, failure, whether it was of your own doing or whether it was circumstances that come into your life,” Freeze said. “Those are tough circumstances, but how a person responds to those and reacts to those probably tells you more about them than the successes do.”

The questions in the main media room then shifted away from his past and onto his future, on how he can mend Auburn and move forward. If Freeze wanted to set a tone for moving quite literally past his past, then his media days press conference was the start.

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[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

247sports.com

 

Freeze says change needed for Auburn program to move forward

Jason Caldwell

8–10 minutes

---

Auburn's Hugh Freeze talks about flipping the script on the Plains.

NASHVILLE, Tennessee—Taking over an Auburn program that has lost four or more games in nine straight seasons, Hugh Freeze said the first order of business wasn’t rebuilding the roster or finding a quarterback. The first order of business for Freeze was convincing those inside and around the program that it was time for a change and not to just keep doing more of the same.

“The first thing that I think had to be flipped was the mindset, because I really believe as a man thinketh, so he is,” Freeze said. “What do we think about ourselves at Auburn, and they had heard so much and will hear so much about what people's opinion are or where you should be picked to finish and all of these things. But man, we first have to rewire the way we think. That's the first thing that I think needed to be flipped, and that's why I chose that as the spring theme.”

The mentality was the first thing that had to change for Auburn to move forward under Freeze, but without some changes to the roster the opportunity to win right away probably wasn’t going to happen. It’s still not a guarantee with the Tigers again facing one of the nation’s toughest schedules, but Freeze said they wanted to create more competition across the board

“I don't want to be negative,” Freeze said. “Just, it was off from what I believe an Auburn roster should look like. Recruiting has been a little more challenging than I thought for Auburn, because of what I believe Auburn should be and what it's proven it can be. It's, what, one of six teams that has played in two national championship games in the last 13 years or so? I mean, that's pretty recent.

“I want to be careful not to -- I love our team. They're my team. They're Auburn's team. We're going to coach the heck out of them. Does our roster from top to bottom look like Alabama's,

Georgia's, LSU's, Florida, A&M, Ole Miss? I don't know yet. I know a couple they don't because I've watched the tape.

“Do I think we've improved Auburn with the additions that we've had since I've been there? Yes. Does that mean we close the gap at all? I have no clue. I do know we improved Auburn, and I hope that means that we somehow close the gap enough to -- if we have a good game plan, to be in some of those games in the fourth quarter and have maybe a shot to pull an upset.”

With a month to try to mesh together several transfer newcomers to a group that is still picking up things installed during spring practices, Freeze admits this will likely be a season of ups and downs. As long as he sees effort and improvement, that’s all he can ask for in year number one on the Plains.

"Well, I think our program is a work in progress,” he said. “I think anybody that has followed it will say that. I'm OK with that, and they've got to be OK with that. We're really going to have to stay tunnel visioned on what today brings. I'm not a big goal setter, I don't believe in that. I believe in what we can do today to get better. If we can stay there, then hopefully from Game 1 to Game 12 there's considerable improvement."

Auburn hopes to 'constantly recreate' feeling from Cadillac Williams' run as interim coach

"Coach Lac, he's an incredible man, incredible ambassador for the school, has been for a long time. People with orange and blue in their blood, they want to see him around forever."

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Eight months later, there’s still some energy left over from that night in Jordan-Hare Stadium, wafting above the new practice facility. It’s most concentrated above Cadillac Williams’ office.

The Tigers have completely turned the page from the 2022 season, sure, with fall camp two weeks away, and well inside two months until the start of the Hugh Freeze era. But at this year’s SEC Media Days in Nashville, Auburn’s 13-10 victory over Texas A&M may have been the most inconsequential game — relative to the rest of the conference in terms of its result — that was brought up several days over the course of the Tigers’ time in the spotlight Tuesday.

That is, of course, because it was so emblematic of how Williams, in an interim role, began to steer Auburn back in the right direction weeks before the program hired a new head coach to replace Bryan Harsin.

“People may not understand how pivotal that was for us,” fifth-year senior tight end Luke Deal said Tuesday. “I would argue that this football program, this team, this university, this town has still built off of that moment, off of those games, off of that energy. That's what we're going to take into next season. That kind of energy, that kind of unity is something that you build on hopefully for years to come. So it's been huge.”

Williams went 2-2 as Auburn’s interim head coach, including a loss at Mississippi State where the Tigers came back from down 21 points and forced overtime, and a home victory over Texas A&M in one of the loudest, most electric nights in Jordan-Hare Stadium in recent memory — for a game between a pair of 3-6 teams.

But entirely separate from any on-the-field results, the mood around the program and in the building had been raised by Williams’ humble and simple manta: serve, discipline and believe. A sunken Auburn squad lost four straight games earlier in the season and could have packed it in after their head coach was fired — but instead responded to Williams’ leadership with reinvigorated passion and intensity that, according to one of their senior leaders, still permeates within the walls of the football complex in mid July.

“Whenever you saw he had the spotlight on him as a coach, you saw that positive energy,” Deal said of Williams. “You saw that positive light, that positive outlook on everything in life. That was something that energized us. It motivated us. That's something that he brings every single day.”

(Kyle Okita, 247Sports)

Both Williams and athletic director John Cohen confirmed Williams interviewed for the head coaching job, and in November, Williams joked that Cohen and university president Christopher Roberts looked more disappointed than him when they delivered the news that he didn’t get the position.

But Freeze’s first priority after being hired, he said at his introductory press conference, was to retain Williams on his staff: “I’ve got to have Cadillac at my side.” Williams was promoted to associate head coach, where, in his words, he has a “seat at the table” for major team decisions, and can also serve as a constant line of counsel for Freeze in their attempt to revive Auburn back into a championship-contending program.

Keeping the former All-SEC running back on staff and repeatedly praising his impact on the program were the first wins of Freeze’s Auburn tenure — and he would have been dealing with a disgruntled fanbase right off the bat if he hadn’t done so.

“People are going to be pretty upset if you get rid of Cadillac Williams” Deal said. “I know I would be. Coach Lac, he's an incredible man, incredible ambassador for the school, has been for a long time. People with orange and blue in their blood, they want to see him around forever. That was definitely important for our success.”

At SEC Media Days, Freeze retold the story of watching Auburn beat Texas A&M under Williams, and how the fanbase responded to one of their program’s icons at the helm. To Freeze, Williams not only represented what he believes Auburn stands for, but reminded the rest of the college football world, too.

“You started hearing and seeing what was going on at Auburn (under Harsin), and hearing that this isn’t Auburn,” Freeze said. “And I remember vividly Cadillac taking over and watching the Texas A&M game. And that atmosphere in that stadium that night — I remember looking at Jill and saying, ‘It’s still Auburn.’ I hope the passion they played with down the stretch, I hope that’s a staple of something we can constantly recreate every Saturday.”

*** Subscribe to Auburn Undercover for the latest news and intel, podcasts, recruiting coverage and more ***

*** Get Auburn news straight to your inbox with the Auburn Undercover newsletter ***

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i post this in case anyone has interest in most of the sec stuff instead of just Auburn.

 

 

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[aubiefifty 18,259]

this might be a double post guys and if so my apologies my memory is not what it used to be..............

 

 

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yahoo.com

 

Former Auburn DC shares prediction for Tigers’ 2023 season

Daniel Locke

~2 minutes

---

2023 will be a pivotal year for the Auburn football program, and many predictions have been made as to how it will go.

It is tough to predict. Hugh Freeze has wasted no time improving the roster since he took over the program but it is difficult to truly know what kind of team you have until conference play rolls around in mid-September.

Former Auburn defensive coordinator Derek Mason, who spent one season with the Tigers in 2021, has predicted how things will go for Freeze and the Tigers in 2023.

Mason’s predictions are included in an On3 article written by Nick Kosko.

“I think 7-5,” Mason said. “I think we understand what their quarterback situation is. We understand that this unit right now is somewhat saddled a little bit in terms of where they sit, but I think what they did in recruiting, what they did in recruiting was outstanding. And they did a good job in the portal and getting (Payton) Thorne and making sure you know really that they can get some competition in the quarterback room.

“But I think all the way around, they’ve got pieces. When you look at that secondary, you know Keionte (Scott)… guys coming back, Cam Riley, the production. It gives this group a chance offensively and defensively by what he’s done.”

Mason also noted that each game besides Georgia and LSU could be a win for the Tigers.

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auburnwire.usatoday.com

 

Hugh Freeze details DeMario Tolan's departure from program

Taylor Jones

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Last week it was reported that transfer linebacker DeMario Tolan was no longer with the program. On Tuesday, head coach Hugh Freeze shed light on the situation.

During his time at SEC Media Days, Freeze was asked about Tolan’s departure. To which he provided a brief, yet weighty response.

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“DeMario’s dealing with some personal family issues,” Freeze said Tuesday. “We want to support him every way we can to make sure he is in the best spot possible for him and his family.”

Freeze also said that a possible return for Tolan will be determined.

Tolan was a heavy target for Auburn during his recruiting days, but he ended up at LSU for his freshman season. After visiting in January, Tolan said that he felt that Auburn was a “perfect fit” for him.

“The highlight of my visit today was just the new staff and how well I feel like they’re going to be for me,” Tolan said. “Just overall I feel like it’d be a great place for me moving forward. I think that they’re at a great place — just a great coach. I feel like they’re going to be a perfect fit for me and just happy to have it be my first visit.”

Tolan recorded nine total tackles during his lone season at LSU in 2022.

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 Taylor on Twitter @TaylorJones__

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This should be J hunters Theme Song.................

 

 

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Local four-star wide receiver Malcolm Simmons projected to Auburn

JD McCarthy

Thu, Jul 20, 2023, 8:00 AM CDT·1 min read

 

 

1

 

Hugh Freeze and Auburn are emphasizing keeping in-state players home and one of their top targets is four-star wide receiver Malcolm Simmons.

The Alexander City product has taken several trips to Auburn and included the Tigers in his top seven schools on June 15. They are battling Arkansas, UCF, Coastal Carolina, West Virginia, Indiana and Liberty for the impressive athlete.

While his recruitment is far from over, Auburn is started to separate itself from the pack and is now the favorite to land Simmons. Steve Wiltfong of 247Sports has cast a crystal ball in favor of Auburn.

Simmons is the No. 365 overall player and No. 28 athlete in the 247Sports Composite ranking. He is also the No. 19 player from Alabama.

He hasn’t set a specific commitment date yet but has stated he’d like to commit before the start of his senior season. He is slated to return to Auburn on July 29 for Big Cat Weekend.

Five-star center Flory Bidunga includes Auburn in final group

Elite offensive lineman DeAndre Carter to attend Big Cat Weekend

 

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

Story originally appeared on Auburn Wire

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al.com

Auburn’s Hugh Freeze ‘glad to be on the home sideline’ of Jordan-Hare Stadium

Updated: Jul. 20, 2023, 10:09 a.m.|Published: Jul. 20, 2023, 9:18 a.m.

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Hugh Freeze talks challenges of rebuilding a program, Auburn culture at SEC Media Days 2023

Hugh Freeze stood on the away team sideline of Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium in 2013 and 2015 as the head coach of Ole Miss.

In his first trip, Freeze and the No. 24 Rebels were upset by Auburn, who was piloted by a brilliant performance from quarterback Nick Marshall. In 2015, Freeze had Ole Miss ranked No. 19 when it visited Auburn and led the Rebels to a 27-19 win.

Freeze might not remember exactly how each of those games shook out whistle to whistle, he does remember one thing.

“It was tough,” Freeze said of coaching against Auburn at Jordan-Hare. “I’m glad I’m going to be on the home sideline.”

That’s one of the advantages of Freeze having been part of the SEC in the past ― he knows visiting other stadiums around the league isn’t easy.

LSU’s Brian Kelly, for example, is prepping for his second season in the SEC after coming from Notre Dame. And last season, Kelly got his first taste of playing on the road in the SEC as he and the Tigers visited Auburn, Florida, Arkansas and Texas A&M.

Of those four trips, Kelly told CBS Sports’ Barrett Sallee that Jordan-Hare and Florida’s Ben Hill Griffin Stadium we’re standouts.

“I appreciate Coach Kelly acknowledging that,” Freeze said. “I think our fans are incredible.”

During the offseason, Freeze had opportunities to speak at Camp War Eagle, Auburn University’s freshman orientation.

“We’re training them to help it be the most difficult place that opponents get to see,” Freeze said of the student body.

Earlier this month, Auburn announced that season tickets were sold out after selling 63,500 season tickets — a program record. The record previously sat at 62,900, which was set ahead of the 2014 season.

Georgia’s visit to Auburn on Sept. 30 is sold out, while the tickets left for the Iron Bowl are slim.

“I think that just speaks to the passion our fans have, not to mention students when they get in there, too, and I’m really excited about experiencing that from the home sideline,” Freeze said.

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al.com

 

What transfer tight end Rivaldo Fairweather brings to the Auburn tight end room

Published: Jul. 20, 2023, 9:30 a.m.

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Auburn TE Luke Deal talks upcoming season at SEC Media Days 2023

Auburn’s first-year head football coach Hugh Freeze saw the Tigers’ transfer tight end Rivaldo Fairweather for the first time years ago.

The Florida International Panthers were welcomed to Liberty’s Williams Stadium on Sept. 26, 2020 in front of a crowd just 1,000 fans due to Covid-19. The Liberty Flames, who were piloted by Freeze, squeaked out a 36-34 win at home and it was a catch made by Fairweather that allowed FIU to bring the game within a possession.

“I do remember gameplanning and then watching them and thinking, ‘Dang, that dude’s good.’,” Freeze said of Fairweather. “So when he did go in the portal and we came here, we were on it in a hurry, because I think he’s a really talented kid.”

At 6-foot-4, Fairweather held his breath for Division I basketball offers that never came so he shifted his attention to football and committed to FIU over schools like Bethune-Cookman, UT-Martin and Western Kentucky.

With the Panthers, Fairweather tallied 838 yards on 54 receptions with five touchdowns through three seasons and was named to the 2022 all-CUSA team.

Fairweather’s time at FIU earned him a 4-star rating as a transfer prospect and a phone call from Freeze and the Tigers which evidently went well and resulted in Fairweather transferring to Auburn in December.

“He fits in like a glove, man,” said Auburn’s veteran tight end Luke Deal. “He’s a great guy. He’s bought into our culture in that room. Like I said, it’s an old room. It’s a room that’s been together for a long time. So that can be kind of intimidating to start. And I think that he’s done an incredible job with just buying into that culture, being one of us.”

Fairweather joins a seven-man tight end room that features returning seniors Tyler Fromm, Brandon Frazier and Deal.

Together, the trio combined for just eight receptions in a 2022 offense that underutilized the tight end.

With the addition of Fairweather and an offense called by Freeze and offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery, the tight end position will likely be more remarkable in 2023.

“You’ve seen him on the field,” Deal said. “He’s explosive. He’s got great hands. He runs really good routes and he’s going to be a really good asset to our team this year.”

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