Auburn's Hugh Freeze looking for 4 key traits when evaluating quarterbacks
Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze has had great success developing quarterbacks at his previous coaching stops and he is both hopeful and optimistic that trend continues with the Tigers.
One thing that could help?
The Auburn logo.
“At Auburn, you ought to be able to recruit one of the top ones in the country,” Freeze said Monday morning during the Inside the 20 podcast with Jeffrey Lee and Keith Niebuhr.
At Liberty, where Freeze coached prior to being hired by Auburn, that wasn’t the case. To be clear, that is not a slight against that program (which has been very good of late). Rather, it’s simply the reality of coaching at a school not in a Power 5 conference.
In fact, Freeze is the first to admit this.
When asked what key traits and/or qualities he looks for when evaluating quarterbacks, this is how he first responded:
“Most coaches wouldn’t say this to you but I think I just believe in being very real. It kind of depends on the level you’re coaching,” Freeze said. “If I’m coaching at Liberty or Arkansas State, truthfully I want the Malik Willis, who people would say ‘You know what, I don’t know that he can be an adequate passer’ … but at that level, you’re not going to recruit one of the top players in the country at that position.
And so, let me go find one I think I can work with to be a dynamic football player like a Ryan Aplin that I had at Arkansas State or Malik Willis. It’s just in that scenario you’re willing to look at some different attributes than at Auburn.”
With the Tigers, Freeze expects to compete for the best of the best at quarterback each recruiting cycle.
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Freeze recently got a huge recruiting win at QB
Since being hired as Auburn coach last Nov. 28, Freeze, offensive coordinator Phillip Montgomery, special assistant to the head coach Kent Austin and the Tigers already have landed two quarterbacks.
One was 3-star signal caller Hank Brown, who signed with Auburn in December as part of the 2023 class. The other is 4-star 2024 talent Walker White, who committed to Auburn over Clemson and many others earlier this year.
Worth noting, Auburn potentially might still be in the market for a transfer who can play this upcoming season. What Freeze sees from his current group during spring practice will impact the path the Tigers take there.
Now, back to the question of what traits Freeze wants his top quarterback targets to have …
“At Auburn there’s no question in my mind, No. 1 is accuracy,” Freeze said. “No. 2 is the ability to lead a football team and be the face and representation of the program. Three would be arm strength and the fourth, I would love for him to have some maneuverability. Some escapability.”
