Hugh Freeze believes recruiting will be 'critical' to success at Auburn

Hugh Freeze has a lot of work to do down on The Plains. That starts with what he accomplishes with the Tigers on the field this upcoming season. From there, though, there’s an emphasis by him and his staff to get things going again on the recruiting trail.

Freeze described that emphasis in an appearance on ‘The Hard Count’ with On3’s JD PicKell. He says there’s a laser-like focus on the next two recruiting classes as he believes they could define his time at Auburn. So, by then, he hopes they’re having a different conversation when it comes to roster construction.

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“When you look at the end result of the ’24 recruiting class or the ’25 recruiting class? I think we probably need to have another discussion then,” Freeze said. “But I think those are going to be critical as to whether or not we’re able to do it in my tenure here. I believe that with all my heart and that’s why we’re working so hard in the ’24 and ’25 classes.”

It’s been some time now since Auburn posted a Top-5 class or even routinely found themselves in the Top-10. Their last class in the Top-5 was their No. 5 class in 2016 per the On3 Industry Rankings. Since then, only two of their seven classes have fallen in the Top-10.

That has actually been even worse since the departure of Gus Malzhan. In the two classes after that under Bryan Harsin, the Tigers had just the No. 21 class in 2021 and the No. 16 class in 2022. Freeze wasn’t able to improve things by much when he took over as Auburn’s 2023 class currently sits at 17th.

This is why there’s such an emphasis by Freeze to bring top talent back to Auburn. It doesn’t matter what he instills to the program if he doesn’t have the recruits to get the job done. With five commitments between their ’24 and ’25 classes, they are just getting started. By the time it’s done, though, they may very well determine his fate to some degree early on with the Tigers.