Hugh Freeze, QB Jackson Arnold are confident Auburn can be a winner in 2025

ATLANTA (AP) — Hugh Freeze is in unfamiliar territory as he heads into year three as Auburn's coach.

The former Arkansas State, Ole Miss and Liberty coach only had one losing season in his decade as a Division I head coach, but his first two seasons at Auburn have yielded meager results at 6-7 and 5-7.

Last fall marked the first football season without a head coaching change in the SEC since 2018, but Freeze certainly enters 2025 on the hot seat.

"I’m glad I’m at a place that has those expectations,” Freeze said Tuesday at SEC media days. “I think when you’ve done this awhile, you really don’t give into a lot of the pressure stuff.”

Everything starts at quarterback with the highest profile of Auburn’s 19 incoming transfers. Freeze signed former Oklahoma starter Jackson Arnold, hoping he can finally provide stability. Starting quarterback Payton Thorne and his backup Hank Brown both struggled last season particularly with ball security, as the Tigers threw 13 interceptions as a team and finished 119th nationally in turnover margin.

Arnold himself struggled through a difficult season with the Sooners, losing his starting job for two games and playing the final five games of the regular season with an interim offensive coordinator. But between Freeze’s quarterback-friendly system and a year of SEC experience now under his belt, there is optimism about the fresh start being mutually beneficial.

“Coach Freeze isn’t scared to push the ball down the field, which I absolutely love,” Arnold said. “I thought with my experience running the RPO game, I think it meshed well with what Coach Freeze wants to do with his offense.”

He will have two of Auburn’s top three receivers from last year in terms of both yards and touchdowns back with Cam Coleman and Malcolm Simmons, along with incoming transfer Eric Singleton Jr. from Georgia Tech. That combined with a returning nucleus on the offensive line led by center Connor Lew has Freeze expecting a sizable jump offensively.

“This is my favorite offensive line when I look at it on paper,” Freeze said. “We’d better be able to run the football and protect the quarterback, because I think we’re pretty talented up there.”

Heading into 2025 Freeze is not only 11-14 overall, but 5-11 in SEC play, 2-6 in one-possession games and perhaps most damaging in the eyes of fans and administrators, 0-4 against rivals Alabama and Georgia.

“Our roster is one that can compete with those teams,” Freeze said, directly addressing the rivalry shortcomings. “We’ve been in the games the first two years, but we haven’t found a way to win.”

Auburn will get both games at home, with Georgia playing at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Oct. 11 and Alabama coming in for the regular-season finale Nov. 29.

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