The 2025 season hasn’t even started, but Hugh Freeze’s clock is already ticking in Auburn. The second-year HC has found himself smack in the middle of college football’s early hot seat lists, with whispers suggesting anything short of an eight-win campaign could leave him gasping for leverage by Thanksgiving. The lifeline? A rebuilt Tigers roster, powered by the promise of a revitalized Jackson Arnold. The former five-star Oklahoma transfer who Freeze believes just “needed, probably, a restart.” With 19 new transfer additions and 28 players shown the door, this Auburn team is a stark departure from the one that sputtered last fall. But change alone doesn’t guarantee wins. It only promises a fresh roll of the dice.
With a rank of No. 7, per 247Sports in 2025 class. Analyst Cole Cubelic didn’t sugarcoat it when assessing Auburn’s new-look squad on Crain & Company. “I think roster-wise you feel pretty good,” he said. “You look at the wide receiver position—some people say best in the nation, some people say best in the SEC. They’re good. I’ll just leave it at that from a comparative sake. We can have that conversation another day.” While tight end remains a soft spot in the Tigers’ scheme, Cubelic noted it isn’t a linchpin in Freeze’s offense. “I don’t think running back’s going to be dynamic or great or A++ or elite, but they can be good enough to go win football games. Also, not a position that Hugh Freeze has had to lean on in his offenses in the past.” In true SEC fashion, though, the trenches still tell the tale. “The offensive line’s got a chance to be pretty good,” Cubelic added, highlighting center Connor Lew, guard Jeremiah Wright, and newcomers Mason Murphy and Xavier Chaplin as pieces who could finally stabilize Auburn’s long-shaky front.
But the biggest spotlight still shines on the QB1—and with it, Jackson Arnold’s ghosts of the past have crept into the picture. “The Jackson Arnold questions are real,” Cubelic said. “I had him a couple of times last year. All the talent’s there. He can make every throw. Great mobility. You can utilize his legs and I think that’s why you go get Ashton Daniels from Stanford, somebody who can at least be a stopgap if something were to happen to Jackson Arnold because you’re probably going to run him some.” The physical tools have never been the issue.
“He can break you down that way and we all know that opens up so much more offensively.” But the mental side? That’s where the alarm bells rang loudest. “I just wonder mentally, emotionally if he’s going to be able to get over that hump. He needs to be rewired. He’s going to have to be coached, coached hard, and he’s going to have to take the coaching and work his way into this system if it’s really going to go. He couldn’t let go of the football last year. That was the biggest problem.” Freeze, to his credit, hasn’t ducked from the pressure—or from Arnold’s uneven past.
But he’s also made it clear that what he’s seen this spring offers new hope. “Really excited about Jackson,” Freeze said on The Paul Finebaum Show. “Just needed, probably, a restart for whatever reason. And I’m just excited about what I saw. He’s got the arm talent, he’s got the legs, he’s got the football IQ. And I think he just needs confidence and I think that confidence grew this spring along with his rapport with our receivers.” It’s a refreshing change of tone from the raw, anxious version of Arnold who looked overwhelmed in Norman last season. Whether it holds true in SEC play, High Freeze seems willing to bet big on a player who may finally be shedding his past demons.
Still, Arnold won’t be navigating the road alone. Enter Deuce Knight, the blue-chip freshman and former Notre Dame commit who flipped to Auburn last October. Ranked the fifth-best QB in the Class of 2025, Knight’s presence in the quarterback room isn’t just a luxury. It’s a looming alternative. Word from within the program suggests Knight’s drills this spring have been nothing short of sharp, and while he may be seen as a developmental piece for now, the leash on Arnold might not be particularly long if Auburn stumbles early. In many ways, this Auburn season feels like a balancing act on a tightrope stretched over boiling expectations.
Hugh Freeze warning, these 4 transfers might just save Hugh’s job
If Hugh Freeze wants to keep his seat from turning into a bonfire in 2025, these four transfer studs are going to have to come in hot—and stay hot. Auburn’s portal class this offseason is headlined by a quartet that could absolutely change the game: top-ranked transfer Eric Singleton Jr., rising QB1 Jackson Arnold, wideout Horatio Fields, and defensive back Raion Strader.
Singleton Jr. brings proven production from Georgia Tech, where he led the Yellow Jackets with 754 receiving yards on 56 grabs and chipped in three touchdowns. He’s expected to slide right into the Tigers’ starting WR rotation alongside Fields, giving the offense some much-needed explosiveness.
Then there’s Jackson Arnold—Freeze’s likely QB1 and maybe his biggest lifeline. “Jackson, obviously, has all the tools to, to be a, one of the top quarterbacks in the nation, in my opinion,” Freeze said. “I think he, you know, coming out of high school, obviously, was Gatorade Player of the Year. But truthfully, you probably don’t, you know, regain or gain that confidence and swagger until we really get into the bows and have success.”
On defense, with Jerrin Thompson off to the NFL, Strader’s expected to step in as a day-one difference-maker.
The post Red Flag Over Jackson Arnold’s Ghosts of the Past Raised as Hugh Freeze Receives Big Verdict on Auburn Roster appeared first on EssentiallySports.