Can Auburn COMPETE for CFP with Hugh Freeze? Making a Year 2 Jump for the Auburn Tigers in the SEC

he's also just mashing it in recruiting they had their big cat weekend in Auburn over the weekend and it's like just an avalanche of commitments including two flips from Alabama what what I obviously this was the plan to time it out this way but did Auburn expect it to be this fruitful yeah they did um no doubt about it I was talking to people on the planes earlier in a month and when Alabama had their run where they were number one overall for a while Auburn just kind of stayed cool and was like be patient and uh from what I was understanding they there there is a sense of a shift in Alabama where Auburn is now becoming the destination place I always talk about how the 17 year olds who are being recruited as 25 recruits and now when you see them recruiting the 26 class these guys are even younger well they haven't seen Auburn play championship football they have there's no recency bias when it comes to their Championship prowess so for Hugh FES to do the job that he's doing to introduce Auburn as a place that you want to go to beat guys like to beat teams like Alabama Georgia Ohio State for players that's huge and I think that right now you're starting to see the beginning of what could be a powder kid in Auburn Alabama I hadn't thought about it that way Dukes but it's interesting so these kids were five they were in kindergarten when Cam Newton LED Auburn to the National Title they they were eight for those Nick Marshall teams that like they they have not seen that and but but right now I believe they got commits from eight of the top 10 players in the state of Alabama for for 2025 which is a massive shift from when Brian harson was there and you know I it's it's we we always thought Auburn would recruit well in the nil era but it does seem like Hugh frees has has sort of figured something out when you're when you're recruit against uh Auburn you're recruiting against H freeze when you think about sometimes you have guys where the defensive coordinator or you have a recruiting specialist on staff where you're going against Hugh frees and I think that's something that you were missing in the previous regime where Brian harson was more of a CEO type guy so there hasn't been that type of energy with these guys where it comes to having direct contact with the head coach Hugh freezes is a recruiter if he was selling me something I'd buy it and right now he's doing the same thing on the recruiting Trail where you're able to lock down the majority of the good players in Alabama and the last time that we saw somebody put a fence around Alabama like this is when Nick Sab started his run yeah you're exactly right because that's kind of what what drove Tommy tuberville out at Auburn is Nick Sabin was just outworking and whipping Auburn's but you know you go you're talking about Julio Jones you're talking about um Rolando mlan it was just a kind of an avalanche the 2008 class is really where it came home to Roose now I know Rando had had committed to Mike schula and Nick signed him but like that 2008 class just they got every good player in Alabama and it felt like they got every good player in Alabama for about three years man it lasted a long time before Auburn was able to grab one of those High more high rated guys I mean when you and and the guys that actually panned out it it got into the late 201 teens before Auburn really started to kind of shift the moment when it came to like top rated players you think about a guy like Marlon Davidson he was a guy who helped shift the program and when he became a senior those Junior and senior years Auburn was good and they were in and they were competitive when Auburn wasn't getting those type of game changer players and the best players in Alabama they weren't competitive and and you started to see that and and multiple coaches have felt the wrath of an un an unhappy and uncompetitive Auburn fan base uh so now when you have when right now you have Auburn happy off of the field now coach freeze has to do it on the field you go out here you get eight nine wins against this schedule then I think you start you see the start of something special I'm glad you mentioned that so we're going to talk second your coaches we're going to start with you Freez and arm before that I gotta remind everybody this show you see the little dog on my shoulder right here this show is sponsored by roback the makers of the world's most comfortable hoodies polos shorts and swim trunks use the code Andy at roback.com that's RH o bac.com for 20% off for all new customers by the way not just for the guys great clothes for the ladies too the active dresses the skirs they got everything my daughters told me listen just get me rowack for Christmas I want a bunch of rowback so it is stylish it is perfect for any activity that you have coming up I got a fishing trip coming up this weekend I will be wearing my rowback performance hoodie I promise you that our show BAC use the code Andy 20% off for all new customers all right dues let us talk Auburn on the field this year we saw him at SEC media days pton Thorne came talked about how different things are this year I I'm curious we we've we've talked a lot about cam Coleman the The Freshman wide receiver it's not just cam Coleman but how can the receiving core help Payton Thorne in Hugh Free's year two I think one uh being more consistent catching the ball one of the things was like always growing up and you know what it's too Andy if you have a quarterback that's struggling the last thing you can do is drop a ball when he puts it on the money and we saw that old we saw that way too many times last year it's very deflating when you have when when when things aren't going the best and the quarterback makes a heck of a throw and the wide receiver drops it so we saw that way too many times last year I think also you got you have veteran guys who've done it on a larger scale when you think about a guy like Robert Lewis coming out of Georgia State uh who who's really like uh he reminds me so much of oh what was the guy from Louisville last year the wide receiver who transferred in uh oh Jamari thrash thrash reminds me so much of Jamari thrash uh TR they had the same trainer in Atlanta so I think uh that's a guy who has documented production who can play the perimeter and the slot and then you think about Keandre Lambert Smith from Penn State who's also done it on a high level now you have veteran guys who when the when when things are going wrong there's somebody who can go and and and and tap pton Thorne on the backside and say come on bro you got this and I don't think he had that last year with any of the guys who uh from uh who were on that that that in Auburn's receiving Court last year not to say they were bad but they weren't this good and I think that makes a difference and and who should we be looking at on Auburn's defense this year because it felt like that group was a little more steady dealt with the offense being inconsistent they could be rewarded if the offense is is better but who who do opposing offenses need to worry about I think this Renaissance and Auburn recruiting started with kayen Lee who uh flipped from Ohio State at the end that year he's the absolute dog at the Cedar Grove High School in Atlanta goes about 51 a little bit undersized and he plays with that chip on his shoulder last year he was thrown into the fire uh they left they left him manto man A lot of times and he actually graded out pretty well had a bad game against LSU but who didn't I think uh as far as using that experience uh this year I think he'll like he's he's basically played against first round picks and now he's uh after a year of being in that system and being able to do a little bit of everything now you bringing a guy like uh uh uh Charles Kelly to partner with Wesley McGriff who can kind of give him some uh give him some feedback on how to use him I think you'll see K Lee turn into a star this year Charles Kelly I we probably should have mentioned that when we're talking about Auburn recruiting you know getting Charles Kelly back on the planes this is a guy who when he was at Alabama was very successful as a lead recruiter on some really important people like oh I don't know will Anderson so this this is this is a guy who can help them on the field and and in recruiting the other thing I noticed with auburn that I think is interesting because Auburn was very active in the portal this year especially on defense but if you look it was more like depth building on defense it was it was not necessarily we've got to get this guy to come in and start but you look at some of those defensive line like Philip Ley TR TR Carter like whether they start or not they're going to be in the rotation and we always talk about having a deeper dline rotation and how in the SEC it's absolutely critical that's that's the part I I'm interested to see is how how deep did they make their dline in terms of whoever the starters are are there people who can give them 20 reps a game fresh that they feel confident yeah and I think 20 and I think those 20 reps are super important when it comes to the fourth quarter uh staying fresh we saw we saw in the fourth quarter last year when Georgia just started to kind of lean on them run the ball better and then they just started going to Brock Bowers well some of that stuff can be attributed to the defensive line not being deep because as they start to lean and you have to start to bring down extra people to help to stop the run now you're getting one-on-one situations with one of the best tight ends in the history of college football so I think that that hurts you so bring in that that depth in you're able to keep guys fresh and you're able to stay fresh at the point of attack which I think is super important to SEC because of all the passive STS and all the great quarterbacks it's still all stars with the run and if you cannot stop the run it's an issue and I think by bringing in guys who have that run stopping that run stopping pedigree like you talked about like a guy like trell Carter or a guy like uh Philip from uh Indiana I think these guys help and you beat people for these guys I think when we talk about recruit even in the transfer portal it's not who you got sometimes but if you want to know how good a guy is it's who you beat and I think by having guys the LSUS of the world keeping him off of LSUS roster says a lot well and and also we've had a big discussion about LSU and the D linan where basically that they felt like the prices got too high in the spring transfer portal didn't end up taking anybody may not have that depth on the D line this year like that that's something they're going to have to deal with with and they were trying to address it uh but Auburn did address it so again you you mentioned earlier when we had the schedule up and you said if they can win no nine games against that schedule that's a that's a roaring success and you look at it so they got to play Oklahoma Georgia Missouri Texas A&M Alabama they're at Kentucky that's not going to be easy either I I think you're right if you you go nine and three against the schedule you're actually probably getting talked about as a fringe playoff team I don't know if you make it but everybody would be pointing toward Auburn 2025 as a playoff SEC National Contender absolutely and I think that if that happens you see Auburn go ahead and break the bank for whatever quarterback is out there in the transfer portal if you build that type of momentum and you have that roster setting and you have the cam Coleman he does what he does and you've got a guy like K Lee who you know is probably going to the NFL draft next year you got to strike next year with that first class that you brought in and so you can also continue to build around that class and the Synergy that's going on in Auburn so I think that's when you really see people think that Auburn has been like really just oh they've got the nil going wait until they win some football games then you'll really see then you'll really see the bank open up man yeah and it's funny because you you forget like the the the Brian harson years and it was only two years but it was so frustrating for the Auburn people because it was not what Auburn has been historically as a recruiting program and it was like somebody was trying to do something trying to make them something they weren't and I think now they look at with Hugh frees they can go back to being what they have been and what they historically are and I you know I go back to Hugh frees when he was at Old Miss it was the second class that he put together you know the 2014 class with Robert kichi and laquin Treadwell and laramy tonsil you know that was the that was the one that that really elevated them that made it different now the difference now is people aren't going to go well how'd you get those guys you're not supposed to get those guys like one we're used to Auburn getting good recruiting classes and two nil I think and the way that Hugh frees is doing it I think the most the the the the the best part that I've seen I was in the I was in the uh in the facility earlier this year laremy tunel comes there every offseason the workout with cuts Don stanisi every year so when you see a offensive lineman who's one of the highs paid offensive lineen in the NFL saying hey these are my guys and wherever they are I'm G to be here that helps in what place was Auburn always kind of deficient in even when they had top 10 classes offensive line this year now this is going to be the best offensive line hall Auburn has ever had they have never had this type of depth and this type of athleticism along the offensive line and I think they're going to help and you may see them get a guy like a Andrew babalo or another five star you already got a fivestar pedigree guy and BR SCH from Kansas so now with the offensive line recruiting that's is this is kind of that second year where it's like where he had an Old Miss where it was like hold up Albert Albert doing Whata Old Miss just got who that's what you're going to see along the offensive line somebody said what was harson even doing for two years chilling and football one thing I'll say about Brian harson he wasn't let anybody stress him out zero always cool as a cucumber you wern't gonna see him mad hey you're not recruiting hey that's hey I'm a football coach I'm a CEO he was so cool he always treated me well but when it came to recruiting that just W this thing yeah unfortunately for him it's kiry thing it was Nick sav's thing and it's definitely Hugh F's thing so I'm I'm excited to see Hugh frees in the era of I can talk to my quarterback directly into his helmet we've talked about that in the past I I think that's a big one for him for Lane kein for Mike norel for those guys who are the play calling head coach who can you know there's just people who see things on the sideline we were talking to to jedf fish the Washington coach and he worked with Steve Spurrier coming up and Steve Spurrier was the ultimate of I'm on the sideline but I can see things that you can't see with your guys in the Press Box and hu fre is one of those guys too I I've always been amazed at what he can spot in real time get that play in get the attention of the quarterback hey do this do that now you can actually talk to him I I do think that's going to help Payton Thorne you know or you know if Walker white winds up having to play as a freshman I think they're going to be all right thank you so much for watching just a reminder subscribe to this channel right here so you never miss an episode of Andy Staples on 3 and oh by the way watch all the other great videos on the Onre Sports YouTube channel