Some years are just not for you. The year 2025 is the one year for Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze. Healthwise, he enters a rough phase battling prostate cancer. Professionally, too, his woes are only going to get more intense. The Tigers wrapped up the 2024 season with a disastrous 5-7 record. If Freeze might have thought of writing a success story this season, he is running out of characters. Thanks to the mass exodus, as players are opting out of Auburn. Does that mean we can spot small holes in the head coach’s $20 million safety net?
The Tigers are headed to the third season of the Freeze era. No matter how low they wrapped up last season, the head coach is moving into the next year with a lot of hope. After their final spring practice, he said, “I thought it would take three [classes] to really have the roster to where it rivals those of the elite in this conference. And that’s probably still accurate. But, I do feel optimistic that with the two we’ve had, we can compete, should compete this year. And so it does look different. So let’s go line up and see what we got.” But how could Freeze just cover up his shortcomings as the head coach? With an offensive handicapped by a crippling habit of turning the ball over and poor quarterback play, made Auburn not bowl eligible. So, it’s now time for him to get a reality check.
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On April 16, Saturday Down South’s Connor O’Gara came up on The Next Round podcast. The question was “Who’s got more pressure? Brian Kelly or Hugh Freeze?” To which the analyst replied, “Hugh Freeze, for his job. Hugh Freeze is the hottest seat of anybody in college football and maybe I’ll get push back from that… more than Napier.” Well, he had his reasons to claim so. Last year had been too bitter for Florida Gators HC Billy Napier. So much so, that the program wanted to get rid of him. However, he is lucky enough to have DJ Lagway, who saved his job. The 19-year-old wrapped up the season with a four-game winning streak, and Napier is lucky as Lagway has another year of eligibility left.
Cut two Freeze, there is not much scope for improvement in Auburn. As O’Gara noted, “I do think the pressure is on. After you know just a a totally disappointing season in which I think you could point to a lot of his mistakes in the fourth quarter.” Definitely, the issue is not talent here. There prevailed a big question mark when it comes to Freeze’s coaching forte. More so because of his play-calling abilities. Last season, there were a few bad calls. One of them was when the Razorbacks’ Ja’Quinden Jackson was given a touchdown when he clearly didn’t break the plane of the goal line late in the game. There has been another mishap in Freeze’s coaching decision.
“His decision to continue to ride with Payton Thorne obviously hurt that team last year,” noted the analyst. Payton Thorne struggled to protect the pigskin and turned the ball over nine times with eight interceptions and one lost fumble. Plus, in comparison to Napier, the Gators were able to zip up the haters an 8-5 season. Meanwhile, players are falling off like dominoes in Auburn.
Hugh Freeze’s roster is thinning at a bad time
Napier’s $26 million buyout terror has been washed away as of now. Thanks to Lagway. But what about Freeze? On his podcast, Paul Finebaum once said, “I wonder if Auburn wasn’t sold a bill of goods on (Freeze). If you take away those wins against Nick Saban, what exactly has Hugh Freeze accomplished as a football coach?” That was a wake-up call for the Tigers. They came up finding a a vital-escape clause to his contract. As Blake Toppmeyer of USA TODAY Sports reported, “While Freeze melts on the Plains, his buyout after this season would total $20.3 million. If you think that safeguards Freeze, you don’t know Auburn.”
Already, the program is not quite bothered about dishing out the fat cheque. Now, what adds fire to Freeze’s $20 million safety net? Combining both the winter window and the spring window of the transfer portal, the Tigers have lost 21 players. As analyst Kyle Rush reported, “Auburn has had three so far defensive backs declare their intentions.” They are CJ Johnson, JC Hart, and Tyler Scott.
Plus, if Hugh Freeze thinks that his quarterback room would give him some kind of respite, he is living in a fool’s world. As analyst Steven Lassan shared, “To me, this is the one position [QB] that will make or break the season. How good is Jackson Arnold and can he play with a lot more consistency? Can he play with mistake-free ball that sometimes we didn’t see out of Payton Thorne?” But poor Freeze! He could not afford to take any risks to make Jackson Arnold play this spring, as he had been nursing a hamstring injury. Maybe that’s how the universe is plotting against the Auburn HC.
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