The 5x Region 8-AA Coach of the Year winner, and the 6x Associated Press Coach of the Year winner. Yes, we are talking about the Auburn Tigers HC Hugh Freeze. So many honors, yet the HC is figuring out the winning formula for his team. The Tigers wrapped up their lackluster season with a 5-7 overall record in 2024. So, there are some crucial decisions to make.
Turns out that Freeze does not have to look far away for guidance to flip their luck. The blueprint of their path to success is close to their home. Meanwhile, Freeze’s QB Jackson Arnold, bombarded with questions, must look to solve them soon.
The consistent trend of strong defense and weak offense continued to persist. The leading example is Freeze’s boys’ 17-7 loss to Vanderbilt Commodores. Some of Auburn’s challenges can be linked to certain players not performing at the expected level.
The fifth-year senior from Naperville QB Payton Thorne stumbled to deliver in his second season as Freeze’s signal-caller. He threw four interceptions in Auburn’s loss against Cal. In comes WR Came Coleman next, whose skills got stunted by his shoulder injury in the second week. Then there was Auburn’s WR Perry Thompson, who caught just four passes for 123 yards and a touchdown. But gone are those days when Freeze has the time to cry over the mishaps.
Rather, he should reverse his vision inside the Auburn hood. On March 17, 247Sports came up with a segment to drop some advice for Freeze. Analyst Nathan King simplified things for the No.1 overall seeded Tigers with their success scheme held by Bruce Pearl and the Tigers’ basketball program.
“What the Auburn football team can learn from the basketball team coming up this fall in person, particularly for Hugh Freeze in his third season is how to highlight their best player at quarterback.” What makes the Tigers’ basketball program idol for Freeze’s program?
Johni Broome!
The power forward scored 23 points and grabbed 14 rebounds as they held off eighth-seeded Mississippi 62-57 on Friday, March 14. As the analyst continued, “Johni Broome may not be looking 6 foot 10, but, but he is absolutely the quarterback of the Auburn basketball team. He has been leading all season but more so than that the gravity of him on the interior as an offensive playmaker open things up for everybody else.”
With his 18th double-double of the season, scoring 23 points and 14 rebounds, he tied 1978 first-round pick Mike Mitchell’s single-season record.
Already Freeze’s Auburn is running high with talent. Now he had to find the answer to only one question. “Can Jackson Arnold be that playmaker that demands the attention on the inside like Johni Broome…can Jackson Armold be that player?” The former Alabama QB has the answer for this.
Biggest spring question for Hugh Freeze’s Auburn
Well, today, Greg McElroy must be known as the ESPN color analyst. But one day, he played quarterback at the college level with Alabama. So he knows how it’s easier for Arnold to bite than what he could swallow. After a big money transfer from Oklahoma to the Auburn Tigers, McElroy singled out Arnold.
To the analyst, Freeze’s QB has got the most to prove. He came up with a serious question on the Always College Football show. “The biggest spring question for me when it comes to Auburn is how confident is Jackson Arnold, and how quickly can he develop chemistry with a really high-quality receiving corps.”
Regarding quarterback play, Freeze and Co. are not that lucky. We all know how the Tigers struggled with Thorne in the last two seasons. Their most crushing defeat came when Thorne threw a pick-six in the closing moments of the fourth quarter, handing the lead to Oklahoma. So, Steven Lassan gave a piece of advice to Jackson Arnold.
He said, “So I think how good is Jackson Arnold right away? How does he look a lot different than we saw at Oklahoma? That’s the key to the season.”
Back in Oklahoma, Hugh Freeze’s QB fumbled three times. This is one of the many instances of his year-long turnover issues. Meanwhile, the HC is the one facing the heat. As per SEC Mike, “They have a lot more talent than they’ve been showing, and clearly that is a sign of poor coaching.”
The blueprint is clear—Hugh Freeze must refine Jackson Arnold into a game-changer like Johni Broome. There’s no other way around it.
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