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Hugh Freeze values candor when publicly evaluating Auburn's 'improved' QBs

Justin Hokansonby:Justin Hokanson•03/27/23•

_JHokanson

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Robby Ashford (Photo by Matt Rudolph/Auburn Live)

AUBURN — If Hugh 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.

Freeze’s most recent comments one week ago didn’t exactly paint a stellar picture of the situation. He wished T.J. Finley, Robby Ashford and Holden Geriner were “further along” than they currently were, and talked about needing to improve their eyes when it comes to progressions within the offense, among other things.

But on Monday, Freeze was more upbeat, saying the quarterbacks enjoyed better weeks of practice following his comments about wishing they were further along.

“We got better last week,” Freeze said. “We added a few periods of just teaching some of the really base, fundamental things of how the offense should be ran. I thought we improved most of the week.”

So, it’s gone both ways.

Freeze’s transparency is welcomed, as it benefits both fans and the media, but it’s not always the norm when it comes to head coaches. I asked Freeze about that on Monday, asking if he’s always been that way, and what’s the value in being either critical or dishing out praise for his players in public?

The answers Hugh Freeze gave were enlightening.

“I struggle with that, I really do,” Freeze said. “I want you guys to say, ‘man, that guy is straight and says it as he sees it.’ But I also worry that it comes across negative sometimes about our current players and I don’t want to be that. They are ours. We have to own what’s out there and how we perform. I hope we take from it when I’m being transparent, is that’s how I want to be as a person in my life.

“There’s no secrets that when I came here, everybody was concerned about this position,” Freeze said on Monday. “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.”

And while yes, Hugh Freeze has been critical at times of his quarterbacks, he made sure to hammer home the fact that the coaches obviously carry plenty of responsibility when it comes to the current state of the Tigers’ signal callers.

“I also share in, and am not running from the fact that part of it is on us,” Freeze said. “I said it last week, but we have to teach it different. It wasn’t teaching to my liking so we have to change it. It’s a joint deal. I’m excited about their wanting to be coached, them accepting our coaching, and I think we have to do a better job of coaching some, and they’ve had to do a better job of owning what’ son the film.

“That’s the way it is. I’m not down, they’ve done some good things. They’ve all had inconsistencies, but it’s our job to improve that.”

Here’s more from Freeze’s press conference on Monday, March 27, as the Tigers begin the first of five more practices before the spring A-Day game on April 8.

The Tigers will practice every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the most part leading into the April 8 spring game inside Jordan-Hare Stadium. Here’s the schedule of practices: February 27, March 1, 3, 13, 15, 17, 20, 22, 24, 27, 29, April 3, 5, 7 and 8. Auburn took the week of March 5-11 off for spring break.

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