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5 National Signing Day quotes from Hugh Freeze that got our attention

On3 imageby:Keith Niebuhr•12/22/22•

On3Keith

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Hugh Freeze (Screenshot from Auburn Athletics YouTube)

Hugh Freeze had a lot to say during his first National Signing Day as Auburn football coach, but here are five things that stood out to us:

–The Tigers continue to search for a transfer portal quarterback and are doing their homework on a number of potential target as we speak: “We’ve gone back and forth on our rankings of them, and we’re kind of looking at that list right now. And (the Tigers have been) in conversations with the next man up, and hopefully we’ll get the right one.”

–We think 4-star defensive end Keldric Faulk, who flipped from Florida State, was the day’s most important get for Auburn — and the biggest pickup overall so far in the 2023 class. And it sounds like Freeze may agree with that: “I probably spent more time on this kid than any. … He was one that I was going to be on the phone morning and night, every single day, trying to convince him that this was the best place for him. We did a good job of building the relationship and also the gift he can give his mom and family to be really close and do something special here at Auburn. We tried to focus on big men. This is a big man league. If you don’t have guys on both sides up front, it’s very difficult. Those DBs get a lot better if you’ve got an edge rusher who can shorten the time the quarterback has.”

–Freeze is betting on himself — and the rest of his staff when it comes to player development: “If a kid told me he was a mid-year he went from a 2-star to a 3-star because I’ll bank on our coaching staff. If a kid has some ability, I think we’ll get the most out of it. If he was a 3-star, he became a 4-star.”

–As this major rebuild gets underway, Freeze made it clear — the work for his staff is just getting started. And, there remain many glaring needs: “Interior (defensive line), we still have a little work to do. We still have some work to do on the O-Line. We’re not through there. We’re really not through anywhere. We still have some big targets out there that hopefully we can close on. either now or in the second wave when we hit the road when we get back in January. Or the early visits in January. There’s still a lot of targets we have and some needs.” As he pointed out early in his press conference Wednesday, “We came into this considerably behind what I think Auburn should be in recruiting.” That didn’t sound like a shot at anybody. Rather, he seemed to just be stating what many see as fact.

–Forget about the ranking of 3-star quarterback signee Hank Brown. Freeze said Wednesday that Brown possesses many of the attributes needed to be a successful Power 5 quarterback: “I’m big on not signing a quarterback that I haven’t seen throw. I’m very uncomfortable about that. And I’ve witnessed this guy make every single throw that you need to make. And he is a heck of a guy, great family, and is going to be a great addition to our locker room and leadership and see how he competes to throw the football, because he really has an NFL arm. I’ve witnessed it with my own eyes.”

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