Hugh Freeze evaluates Robby Ashford, compares to his time with Malik Willis

The Auburn Tigers officially entered the Hugh Freeze era on Tuesday. During his introductory press conference, the former Liberty and Ole Miss coach discussed the quarterback that will be the incumbent starter this spring, Robby Ashford.

“We’ve had great success with our Auburn transfers at Liberty, obviously Malik Willis comes there and becomes a draft pick at quarterback… So, when I watch Robby’s last game, I told John (Cohen), it got me intrigued,” Freeze said. “I knew he could run around, obviously, that’s very positive, saw him make some throws in that game, in particular in the right corner of the endzone. It was a really, really, really difficult pass. It was really beautifully done.

“I do think I have a gift to develop quarterbacks, I think if you look everywhere that we’ve been, we’ve had pretty good success with that. I’m very anxious to get to work, not only with him but he’s a tremendous athlete.”

After Freeze’s announcement, Ashford took to Twitter with his reaction. He said he is ready to get to work to handle some “unfinished business.”

“@CoachHughFreeze Welcome to the Plains, let’s get to work we’ve got unfinished business to handle,” Ashford said via Twitter. “#WarEagle.”

In the 12 games Ashford played in, he completed just under 50% of his throws for 1,613 yards, seven touchdowns, and seven interceptions. He flashed, however, rushing, as he racked up 710 yards and seven touchdowns.

Freeze contract details revealed

According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Hugh Freeze and Auburn agreed to terms on a six-year, $39 million deal. The contract will pay the former Liberty headman an average of $6.5 million per year, eighth best in the SEC.

Freeze was confirmed to be the next Auburn head coach Monday afternoon after speculation over the weekend that he was the man for the job. Despite some late drawback from the program, they eventually pulled the trigger on the man they believe can turn the program around.

Before accepting the Liberty job in 2019, Freeze was the head coach at Ole Miss, where he led the Rebels to back-to-back wins over Alabama during his tenure. In 2016 he led the Rebels to its first top-10 finish (No. 9) to a season since 1969 before being forced to resign the following offseason after recruiting violations were handed down to Freeze and Ole Miss by the NCAA.

Auburn finished 5-7 on the season, missing out on a bowl berth for the first time in a decade. Freeze will take over the reins from interim head coach Cadillac Williams who he has promoted to associate head coach.

On3’s Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.