Hugh Freeze addresses if Cam Coleman could be more involved in offense in final weeks

The Auburn Tigers and Hugh Freeze know they have a special young wide receiver in Cam Coleman. The only issue is, at times, making sure that they’re able to get him the ball as much as they would like to in a given game.

Coleman saw an uptick in his production in Auburn’s most recent game against ULM. With that, Freeze was asked if this could mean he’ll be more involved in the offense in the final weeks of the season.

“I would love to answer that and say, ‘Absolutely, we’re throwing it to him eight times,'” Hugh Freeze said. “But I don’t get to dictate the coverages. Yes, we could design a play to take a shot to him, but it’s really hard to design a play that you guarantee he is going to get a short route thrown to him because I don’t know, man. They could be in cover two. They might be in tight man. So, it’s really hard.”

This season, Cam Coleman has played in nine games and has 23 receptions for 392 yards, or 17 yards per reception. He also has five touchdown receptions. In the four games leading up to the ULM game, he had six receptions for 80 yards and a touchdown. Then, Coleman had an explosive performance against ULM, snagging eight receptions for 100 yards and three touchdowns.

“It just happened that early in the game Saturday, we had some RPO opportunities, and every one of them was kind of to him and they had a couple third down throws where they had a little mesh route and he was the option on that. I don’t know that pre-snap that he will be,” Freeze said.

“But I would love to say that he is going to get eight and Malcolm [Simmons] is going to get eight and Perry [Thompson] is going to get eight and [KeAndre Lambert-Smith] is going to get eight, but that’s very difficult for a coach to know where the ball is going to go when you call one of those pass plays for sure, but it does breed confidence when it happens.”

Much has been expected of Cam Coleman since he came out of high school as a five-star recruit and the fourth-ranked player overall in the Class of 2024, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. Now, the hope for Hugh Freeze is that the game against ULM will have unlocked more of that potential. At the same time, it’s a tough road ahead for Auburn with their final two games coming against Texas A&M and Alabama.