If Hugh Freeze is reading his reshaped roster correctly, his third season at Auburn will become the Year of the Tigers.
Freeze said Tuesday at SEC Media Days that the reshaped roster and experience on his side — not to mention playing rivals Alabama and Georgia at home — is enough to turn the tables in Auburn’s favor in games like those against the behemoths of the Southeastern Conference.
Alabama was two scores better than the Tigers in 2024 (28-14) in the annual Iron Bowl, while Georgia beat the Tigers by 18.
Why does Freeze think this year will be different?
“Number one, playing at Jordan-Hare is a definite advantage in those games for sure,” Freeze said. “And our roster is one that can compete with those teams. We’ve been in the games even the first two years, but we haven’t found a way to win.
“And that’s one of the secrets, I think, to our success this year is having guys that we think we’ve brought in that have the combination of all of it, not just skill set, but this guy’s a winner and has been proven to win and now will help us get over the edge in all these close games like those two will be.”
One of the guys Freeze views as a difference-maker is Oklahoma transfer Jackson Arnold. He’s in line to be the QB1 for Auburn in the opener against Baylor and should be fully up to speed by the time the Tigers face his old team on Sept. 20.
Arnold was not viewed as the top prize in the transfer portal by every team and won few over with statistics. But Freeze said circumstances painted that picture, and it wasn’t reality.
He was sacked more times than any quarterback in this SEC and sixth-most across all of college football last season.
“I loved Jackson out of high school. I think everybody did. He was a Gatorade Player of the Year, top quarterback in the country coming out. Boy, he fit everything that I believe in doing offensively, (offensive coordinator Derrick) Nix does too. We’ve been together a long time, and he just fits that,” Freeze said.
“So I knew how I felt about him then, but of course you’re doing this speed dating here and things weren’t great statistically or whatever performance-wise. Then you have to do a deep dive into why was that, and can I get past whatever that was. When you evaluate it, you said it, he had several different play callers, injured offensive line and receivers, and yet when you pull all of his throws, I still saw that there it is, that’s what I saw. There it is again. He still has that about him.”
Freeze lauded the toughness Arnold brings at the position. He said the Tigers are offering him a needed restart to prove who he is as a player.
Arnold, also at SEC Media Days on Tuesday, said he has no ill will toward the Sooners for their decision to move in another direction. He was replaced as OU starter after only four games last season.
He wound up back in the starting lineup by the end of the season and beat then-No. 7 Alabama. That win opened Freeze’s eyes because of Arnold’s guts and big plays with his legs.
One of his next big chances to open some other people’s eyes will be his SEC debut with Auburn — in Norman.
“Things happen. Things happen for a reason,” Arnold said. “Sometimes things work out the way it’s supposed to be. You know, we’re on God’s timing, you know, not our timing. And, for me, I felt the best decision for me was to move on and move on somewhere else to get a fresh start, like you said, and go out and do what I know I can do with this Auburn squad this year.”
–Field Level Media
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