Hugh Freeze reaffirms belief Auburn can be an 'elite' football program

Auburn went through a trying first season under coach Hugh Freeze, finishing 6-7 with a bowl loss and ending the campaign on a three-game skid.

It was a season of what ifs for the Tigers. What if the defense doesn’t yield a fourth-and-31 to Alabama late in the game?

Obviously there were some areas where things could have gone just a little differently and produced a substantially different outcome, one where Freeze’s squad is headed into the offseason with a great deal more momentum. Such is life in the SEC.

“We’re incredibly blessed to be at Auburn, incredibly blessed by our administration and fans, and it hurts like heck to let them down and not compete on given days,” Hugh Freeze said. “But my takeaway is that I’m still as confident as ever that this can be an elite football program again.”

For all the issues the Tigers had, winning six games was something of an achievement. The overall roster still needs a serious talent infusion, something Freeze is helping with given his knack for recruiting at a high level.

But the Tigers also needed help at quarterback, where inconsistent play from Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne really put the Tigers behind the 8-ball at several key junctures.

Fixing all of that will take time.

“It takes great recruiting, but it also takes player-led teams that put team first and the standard of the team every single day first,” Hugh Freeze said. “We’re still learning that, and we’ve got to demand it as coaches, and we can’t waver from it when we get back in January, and I’m looking forward to the leadership of our team doing that.”

For his part, Freeze is helping to shore up the roster by adding a considerable amount of talent. Auburn’s 2024 recruiting class currently ranks eighth nationally and is bolstered by one five-star-plus signee in receiver Cam Coleman, as well as four other top-100 prospects.

The Tigers even have a strong quarterback signee, with four-star Walker White in the fold.

There’s also the transfer portal, where Auburn has secured pledges from nine different prospects from other programs. Needless to say, Hugh Freeze is doing what he can to turn over the roster in a hurry.

If all goes well, the results will follow.