Hugh Freeze identifies what still needs to happen after rapid timeline following hire

It’s been quite the whirlwind for Hugh Freeze since his hiring at Auburn. He was introduced Nov. 29, just a few days before the transfer portal opened and just before the Early Signing Period got started, meaning he had to juggle multiple things at once while taking over the program.

That didn’t give him much time to settle in.

“It’s not an ideal calendar for us in year one,” Freeze said. “With the new world, I don’t really feel like we even had a Christmas or a New Year’s or anything. But it’s part of taking over a new job and the transition of it.”

Luckily, February provides some down time from a recruiting standpoint. But instead of taking a minute to catch his breath, Freeze now has to focus on implementing his scheme since he’s not out on the recruiting trail.

As a result, he still doesn’t have much down time.

“I appreciate the fact that February’s a dead month and you can really start focusing on your team,” Freeze said. “Typically, you would like to take a little breather right now. But we’re not afforded that opportunity. We’ve got to really hustle in February to get everything installed. We’re all coming from a plethora of backgrounds, and this is the first week that we’ve really sat down and said, ‘Hey, what are we calling this?’

“How high up on the hierarchy of install is it? Is this something we believe in strong enough to focus on it in spring ball? So we’ve got thousands of discussions that have got to take place between now and the 27th of February. Yesterday was the first day that have really just had a full day of ball.”

Hugh Freeze: Auburn is trying to ‘marry two systems’

Freeze now has a chance to implement his system — and that’s a challenge considering the amount of new faces on the staff. That includes offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery, who’s coming over from Tulsa.

While their schemes aren’t too different, Freeze said it’s more about getting the terminology straight. That’s where it becomes a balancing act between their backgrounds.

“Philip and I are really trying to marry two systems,” Freeze said. “They’re very similar. We believe in the same things. But it’s just a lot of different ways to get to them and a lot of different things to call them. Somebody’s got to learn a new world, and I truthfully have called the offense that we’ve run pretty much the same verbiage since I was a high school coach. You’re taking 30 years of me calling this ‘cat’ and he wants to call it ‘dog,’ which I’m really open, believe it or not. I’m really open to new ways. I just want to do what’s best. But it is a learning curve.

“Yesterday was the first day that we got through all the protections, and that was it in a day. We’ve got a long way to go. We’ll try to knock out all of our screen game this afternoon, and then go from there. We’ve got a full month of February facing us.”