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Hugh Freeze expects 'weight' of QB battle to rage on past spring camp

On3 imageby:Ellie Oldham•04/03/23•

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Holden Geriner, T.J. Finley and Robby Ashford (Photo by Matt Rudolph / Auburn Live)

AUBURN — Although Hugh Freeze is keeping a close eye on the quarterbacks’ performances during spring practice, he knows that this competition will continue months after the spring ends.

“Being the quarterback to me, at an SEC school and at a place like Auburn, (it) carries a lot of weight with it,” Freeze said on Monday afternoon. “That weight doesn’t end when spring practice No. 15 is over.”

Possessing a strong presence on and off the field, displaying leadership capabilities, and maintaining consistency throughout spring, the summer, and into the fall will be incredibly important elements of Freeze, Philip Montgomery and Kent Austin‘s evaluation process.

“What does that look like in the leadership of this team and that will all play into ultimately who gets that first nod,” Freeze said.

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The quarterbacks are showing improvement, as the offense “dominated” practice last Wednesday, diametrically opposed to the previous scrimmage the Friday before.

RELATED: EVALUATING ROBBY ASHFORD PRESENTS CHALLENGES FOR FREEZE, MONTGOMERY

For Robby Ashford, his “pocket presence” and having “quieter feet” were specifically mentioned by Freeze as spring improvements. For T.J. Finley, “playing well within the system” is an improvement, but decision making has been an issue.

“He’s made some accurate throws, just sometimes it shouldn’t have been thrown,” Freeze said. “It should have been handed off. This is new to him, so he’s (working on) that.”

And then there’s sophomore Holden Geriner, whose “accuracy, particularly on down the field throws,” highlights things he’s doing well. “He’s gotta get still in the pocket,” Freeze said, “but he’s still young.”

If Freeze has been anything during his first spring camp as Auburn’s head football coach, he’s shown tremendous candor and transparency when talking about the progress of the quarterbacks. His latest critiques of the three quarterbacks are no exception.

“There’s no secrets that when I came here, everybody was concerned about this position,” Freeze recently said. “For me to sit here and say there’s no concerns, or I could sit here and be mum and not answer your questions. I have to decide what that looks like for me. I want to be truthful- I think we’re making improvement, but there was a ways to go. It’s our job as coaches to get them to be the best they can be.”

As spring practices come to an end and A-Day approaches, the title of “QB1” remains up for grabs, and that doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon.

“It’s going to be interesting to see how they all respond,” Freeze said.

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