SEC Media Days: Auburn's 'potential is limitless,' says Hugh Freeze

ATLANTA – By the time commissioner Greg Sankey introduced Hugh Freeze Tuesday in the main room at the College Football Hall of Fame, Auburn’s head coach had already conducted a half-dozen radio interviews and rotated through another dozen stations at SEC Media Days.

Freeze was just getting warmed up.

In the big room, he thanked Auburn fans for selling out season tickets in all three of Freeze’s seasons on the Plains before sharing his optimism for 2025.

“At Auburn, we couldn’t be more excited about this fall,” he said. “Our president Chris Roberts often said that Auburn has earned the right to dream the biggest dreams, and that’s the way I feel about our football team for our fans this year, for our administration and for our team.

“I like our squad. I like the makeup of it. I like the staff. I love the energy that’s in the building, and I can’t be more excited about us having a chance to prove that we can compete in every single game that’s on our schedule. 

“Our roster is just better. We’re bigger, we’re faster, we’re stronger. Our chemistry and carryover in coaching is here for a second consecutive year, and most of our locker room is bought into the standard to which we think it will take for us to win football games.

“We have built this fairly fast. We should have won or could have won some games last year, and we've done everything in our power to evaluate why that happened and what we can do better as coaches and then get more pieces to the puzzle with more and more players. We feel very confident we've done both.”

Leaning into Auburn’s prospects, Freeze reinforced his optimistic outlook.

“Our expectation is we embrace the high expectations that Auburn brings, and we believe this team's potential is limitless,” he said. “It’s time for us to start climbing that mountain and winning some of those games. There’s no reason with the chemistry among our staff, the additions we’ve added to the roster, the two top-10 recruiting classes. There is zero reason that our team, Lord willing we stay healthy, we’re expected to compete in every single football game.”

Freeze noted the Tigers’ defense will feature more speed at linebacker and in the secondary.

Offensively, Auburn prioritized tackles in the portal, adding Xavier Chaplin from Virginia Tech and Mason Murphy from Southern California to an O-line that includes veterans Jeremiah Wright, Dillon Wade, Connor Lew and Izavion Miller. 

“I like our roster,” Freeze said. “We needed to get deeper and longer, more experienced at offensive tackle. I feel really good about our first seven guys (on the O-line). We needed to get some length and more speed in the secondary and I think we’ve done that.

“I love what I see from our kids. I love what I see from our staff. I love the chemistry I see between the quarterbacks and receivers right now. They believe in each other. Hopefully that is shown when we start playing games.”

Freeze complemented his blue suit with a new pair of Nikes, two weeks after Auburn kicked off its Nike era.

“There’s an excitement in the air to be partnering with Nike,” he said. “Our kids are excited, and I know our partnership with them will go well.”

Freeze invited defensive lineman Keldric Faulk, offensive lineman Connor Lew and quarterback Jackson Arnold to represent Auburn at SEC Media Days. 

“Three great ones,” Freeze said. “Those are incredible human beings, number one, great Auburn men and also tremendous leaders for our football team that we will count on heavily come this fall.”

Auburn begins preseason camp in two weeks on July 29. The Tigers open the season Aug. 29 at Baylor before hosting Ball State Sept. 6 for Kickoff on The Plains.

“It takes a little time to build it, and we've been doing that,” Freeze said. “Certainly, I wish we would have won more games, but the future is very bright in my eyes. We've been blessed everywhere we've been to win, and I expect nothing less than that at Auburn.”

Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer