Hugh Freeze believes Auburn hit a home run with Connor Lew

Auburn hasn’t yet completed spring football practice but already coach Hugh Freeze knows he has a freshman offensive lineman who will play in Connor Lew.

That news should hit two-fold for Auburn fans. Freeze explained the first angle.

“I think we hit a home run with Connor Lew,” Freeze said. “Connor Lew is going to play for us as a freshman. Needs to gain some weight, hopefully that will happen in the offseason.”

The second part is the less rosy news for Auburn fans, though it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise for anyone following college football long enough.

The Tigers might be pretty shaky on the offensive line.

Any time a player steps in and can immediately prove himself as a contributor within his first few practices on the team, there’s probably an issue with the existing talent at the position.

“I think he’s going to be a good player, but I think it’s an indictment of where we are, truthfully,” Freeze explained. “I hope that we don’t have to depend on freshmen too much longer to come in and provide significant help for us, but that’s where we are.”

Freeze, of course, is trying to spin the entire thing to maximum advantage. So he’s already taken it to the recruiting trail.

“It’s our recruiting pitch right now,” the first-year Auburn coach said. “You want to start immediately helping a tradition like Auburn has get back to where it can be? Then we’re looking for help now. That’s the case, so it’s a combination of him being a really good player and talented player but also the lack of depth that we have there.”

That’s not to say that the news isn’t overwhelmingly positive on Connor Lew’s end.

The 6-foot-3, 282-pound prospect was rated as a three-star prospect in the 2023 recruiting class, checking in as the No. 427 overall player in the nation. He was ranked as the No. 33 interior offensive lineman and the No. 43 overall player in the state of Georgia.

On paper, he’s not necessarily someone fans would have circled for immediate playing time.

But it appears Connor Lew has the chops and, more importantly, will get the opportunity to help Auburn in a major way early on.

“He’s smart, tough, strong, moves well,” Freeze said. “Hopefully he learns the game well. We’re playing him both at center and guard and seems to be grasping it very well, so expecting him to play as a freshman.”