Hugh Freeze shares how Dylan Senda fits Auburn's culture

When Hugh Freeze arrived at Auburn he was blunt about the state of the roster. Forget establishing Auburn’s culture, Freeze needed some bodies that could shore up simple spots of need like the offensive line.

Over the weekend, Freeze might have killed two birds with one stone in landing Northwestern transfer Dylan Senda.

“Man, he is a big, good-looking dude, and he’s a freshman,” Freeze said. “So basically I think we’ve added a guy that has a long-term future here. He fits the Auburn culture, and so does his family. Excited to have him.”

Senda opted to transfer after a major hazing scandal rocked Northwestern and led to the firing of coach Pat Fitzgerald.

Seeking a fresh start, the 2023 prospect entered his name into the portal and began sifting through his options. There were no shortage of them.

Senda, a true freshman and Class of 2023 top-500 recruit, was the second-highest ranked player in Northwestern’s 2023 recruiting class. He was the 44th-best interior offensive lineman and 499th-best overall prospect in the 2023 class according to the On3 Industry Ranking.

So there was quite a market for him.

With Freeze’s priority on getting strong in the trenches again as part of Auburn’s culture, adding a guy like Senda was a no-brainer.

“There’s no secret that I’ve made that a priority and Dylan was a highly recruited kid out of high school,” Freeze said. “I thought that when he went in the portal, (offensive line coach) Jake (Thornton) had a relationship with him already, so did (defensive analyst) Darren Hiller, who’s a new staff member here who’s been with me before. I think that gave us an edge.”

How soon Senda is able to contribute remains to be seen. Integrating him into Auburn’s culture will be the chief priority, as will learning the playbook.

There have already been some signs that will take at least a little time, with Senda a bit behind some of his peers who joined in the winter or earlier this summer.

“He’s swimming right now because he just heard yesterday what we call inside zone and that’s all new to him,” Freeze said. “But he’ll be patient because he is just a freshman. So I think it helped us depth wise and obviously long term gives us, and truthfully, you’ve got a guy that’s locked in that can’t transfer because of the one-time and that’s something that plays into it all.”