Hugh Freeze says Hogs will be 'a handful' in Arkansas-Liberty game

Former Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze will be back in the SEC this weekend, with his Liberty squad set to travel to Arkansas for a late-season non-conference matchup. He expects quite the challenge in the Arkansas-Liberty game, even if it’s a miniature homecoming of sorts for him.

Before he was named the head coach at Ole Miss in 2012, Freeze spent two years in the state as a coach at Arkansas State.

He’s plenty familiar with how intense the SEC is.

“The Hogs are going to be a handful for us. When you’re playing an SEC roster with a Group of 5 school it’s tough,” Freeze said. “It’s hard. You can’t hardly make any mistakes if you want to even have a chance to be in it. Very impressed with; they needed an off week a couple weeks ago and it benefited them greatly. They got some guys back on defense this past week against Auburn and they started looking more like themselves.”

The Razorbacks are indeed getting healthier this week, expecting star cornerback Malik Chavis back from injury.

Freeze knows Saturday’s game will test just how good his Flames are, off to a 7-1 start to the season.

“It’s going to be a tall, tall task,” Freeze said. “It’s exciting. I wish we were coming into this ranked 23rd in the country and feeling like, I don’t know who the worst team is in the 131 college football teams, but I’d like to be playing them this week and not the Hogs.

“But it’ll be a fun trip. I’ve got a lot of friends in Arkansas from my time there. I’ve gotten a lot of texts about people that will be at the game and come by the hotel and I get to visit some with them. But ultimately it’s our job to get our kids ready to try to compete in a game that we’ll be excited to play. Our kids, they’ll be ready. Do we have enough firepower to hang with these guys? We’ll see. But it’ll be fun trying.”

Hugh Freeze has respect for Arkansas’ coaches

As the Arkansas-Liberty game looms, Freeze’s SEC connections are coming into more full focus.

The Auburn head coaching job is now open and though Freeze recently signed an extension with Liberty there’s been plenty of speculation that he may be a target for the Tigers.

Either way, you can tell he’s a guy familiar with SEC coaching circles.

“I have great respect for Sam Pittman,” Freeze said. “I don’t know him extremely well, but I have always thought that he did a heck of a job recruiting and coaching his guys, and obviously the turnaround at Arkansas from the time he took over is pretty dang incredible.

“I am good friends, though, with Barry Odom. We’re really good friends, and I think the world of him. Just, he’s one of the best coordinators in the game. Then the respect I have for the Briles family and their offensive mind. Kendal‘s doing a great job there and just look at their stats and what they’ve been ranked in the SEC in both rushing and in total yards. They’re very balanced, very tough to defend, scoring points on almost everyone.”

The Arkansas-Liberty game will kick off at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday with a broadcast on the SEC Network.