Auburn Tigers, with its rich heritage and fanatical faithful, has been wandering the desert of the SEC the past couple of years, looking for a spark. Enter Hugh Freeze turnaround specialist coach with a suitcase full of both hope and baggage. Freeze arrived at Auburn following the Bryan Harsin era, left the program in a crater, and his first two years have been a mixed bag. In 2023, Auburn achieved six victories and a bowl game, nothing glitzy, but an improvement over the chaos. Expectations were high for 2024, particularly with better recruiting and a transfer portal haul. Now it’s year three, and patience is less. No Auburn head coach in five decades has made it through two losing campaigns, and Freeze is sitting on the hottest of coals. The silver lining? Experts generally regard the 2025 roster as the best since 2019.
Auburn’s 2026 recruiting class is coming along as a traditional Hugh Freeze rollercoaster, minimal, but loaded with elite talent. At this point, Auburn is No. 15 in ESPN’s national rankings on seven commits, yet five are ESPN 300 blue-chippers, a fairly impressive batting average for Freeze and the Auburn staff. On offense, the headliner is four-star receiver Devin Carter, a speedster with NFL pedigree (his father is Dexter Carter, a former first-rounder and Super Bowl winner), who’s supposed to add some much-needed fireworks to the Plains. Carter, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound pass catcher from Douglassville, Georgia, is a top prospect, with 41 passes for 669 yards and five touchdowns in his junior season at Douglas County. Now, if you’re wondering who’s helping Freeze convince these teenagers to trade TikTok for Toomer’s Corner, look no further than new offensive coordinator Derrick Nix.
Speaking of recruiting fireworks, the Tigers are also in the thick of the chase for five-star running back Derrek Cooper out of Chaminade-Madonna in Florida, and Nix is playing the captain in that ship. “Auburn coach Derrick Nix visited elite RB Derrek Cooper on Monday,” posted on On3 Recruit’s X page.
Auburn coach Derrick Nix visited elite RB Derrek Cooper on Monday
Cooper ranks No. 34 NATL. (No. 3 RB) in the 2026 class.https://t.co/I2soOlIRdr pic.twitter.com/OTyUefvaXg
— On3 Recruits (@On3Recruits) May 13, 2025
Cooper, the nation’s top-15 player with 905 rushing yards and 13 TDs. He is arguably the most highly sought- back in the 2026 class, has Auburn firmly in his sights, even as he schedules official visits with nearly every blue blood in the country. With Derrick Nix taking over on offense, Auburn’s sales pitch to Cooper just became a whole lot more appealing. Nix has been pounding the recruiting trail like a man with something to prove, and right now, his top assignment is signing Derrek Cooper. Nix traveled earlier this week to visit Cooper in person, likely carrying a highlight reel, a supply of Auburn merchandise, and an explanation of how Cooper could be the next big thing on the Plains.
If there is a PowerPoint presentation to be had, you can be sure it has some clips from Cadillac Williams and Bo Jackson thrown in for good measure. Naturally, it’s not as if Auburn is the sole suitor in this high-stakes recruiting saga. Cooper’s number one reads like a roll call of college football royalty: Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Florida State, Miami, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Penn State, and Texas A&M are all candidates. Georgia’s got family love and Kirby Smart’s charisma, Miami is the hometown favorite with the “play both ways” sales pitch, and Ohio State’s Carlos Locklyn is already schooling Cooper on new things. Even Texas A&M is offering him snaps on both sides of the ball-because why not?
Will Arnold cross the SEC bridge?
If you’ve been keeping up with the news, you get the sense that the atmosphere is complicated with Auburn’s case with Arnold Jackson. Hugh Freeze. Auburn’s head coach now has a new quarterback in Arnold. Arnold was a five-star recruit out of high school and recorded 1,421 yards, 12 touchdowns, and three interceptions along with 444 rushing yards and 3 TDs in only 10 games. But after a tumultuous 2024 season and being benched for a while in Sooners, there are some legitimate questions about whether Arnold is the solution Auburn’s been looking for, or merely another installment in the Tigers’ recent quarterback saga.
But what got Hugh Freeze nervous? First, Arnold’s stint at Oklahoma was, to be charitable, a disaster. Injuries wiped out the Sooners’ offense, the O-line was a revolving door (they allowed nearly four sacks per game!), and Arnold found himself running for his life. Ole Miss sacked him nine times! He tossed three picks in the bowl game. Yeah, some say it wasn’t entirely his fault, but nobody can deny that he seemed shaken up, and turnovers mounted.
Freeze isn’t concerned about Arnold’s arm or his legs; everyone’s in agreement that the kid can sling it and go. The question is what’s going on up here, between the ears. Analysts and even Freeze himself have indicated that Arnold’s greatest challenge is in his head. He’s got to get rid of last season’s hardships, bring back his confidence, and show that he can withstand the mental toughness of SEC football. Cole Cubelic spoke straight out: “All the talent’s there… I just wonder mentally, emotionally if he’s going to be able to get over that hump.”
And let’s be real, Auburn fans have seen this move before-talented QB comes in, struggles with the pressure, and the offense sputters. Freeze knows he’s got to “rewire” Arnold, coach him hard, and get him believing in himself again. The spring reports are cautiously optimistic. Freeze says Arnold’s confidence is growing, but the real test comes when the bullets start flying in the fall.
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