Hugh Freeze on Cam Coleman: ‘He changes us’ on offense

True freshman wide receiver Cam Coleman has been the talk of the town in Auburn after enrolling early and making some serious noise during this year’s spring practice for the Tigers. Dazzling the 33,526 Auburn fans in attendance for A-Day on Saturday.

Coleman scored the lone touchdown of the game as Auburn’s offense won the game 28-27, and afterward, Tigers’ head coach Hugh Freeze spoke about the performance and future of his standout freshman.

“Well I think he changes us,” Freeze said. “We need more, anxious to get the other signees here like Perry [Thompson] and Malcolm [Simmons] to join with that group. But I am glad our fans got to see that, I’m quite sure that they were very excited to see that. He just tracks the ball and thinks every ball is catchable.”

Coleman ended the scrimmage with four catches for 92 yards and a score. Highlighted by explosive plays like a 49-yard catch from Hank Brown and his 34-yard touchdown grab from Payton Thorne. But even when he wasn’t hauling in passes he was still impressing his new head coach.

“And I know he made a couple great ones, but there’s one he didn’t that I honestly thought might have been his best effort of the day. He was kind of like, I don’t know how to describe it, behind the back?” Freeze asked. “He honestly had that for a second, and I’m not sure it wasn’t interference but they didn’t call many of those today.”

Coleman was a five-star recruit out of Central High School in Phenix City, Alabama, where he was ranked as the No. 2 wide receiver and the No. 4 overall player in the entire 2024 recruiting class according to the On3 Industry Ranking. And he’s surely lived up to the hype so far, with Freeze recently telling On3’s JD PicKell that he’s just as excited about Coleman as he was for current NFL players like D.K. Metcalf and A.J. Brown.

“But just to see him, he just tracks the ball really naturally and he’s so teachable, coachable,” Freeze said. “He made a couple MAs (missed assignments) in the tight red zone today on balls that we were hoping to throw him down there and kind of got us in trouble. Made us kick some field goals. So that’s on us, we’ve got to clean that up and make sure he knows the whole system and what he can do.”

“But when he knows what to do he’s really really talented.”

It’s clear that Coleman has all the makings to be a star for the Tigers and just what Auburn’s offense needs as they look to bounce back and make a statement in year two of the Hugh Freeze era.