TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Auburn football has never been as bad as Bryan Harsin made the Tigers look. Cadillac Williams showed it to us.
Auburn is also not as talented as it should be. Hugh Freeze, if he becomes the next AU manager, could show us.
No. 7 Alabama beat Auburn 49-27 in the Iron Bowl on Saturday, and it’s no surprise, as the Crimson Tide (10-2, 6-2 SEC) are armed with more abundant talent. than his rival. Harsin allowed this to happen. He lost more talent than he gained in the transfer portal and he failed as a recruiter.
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Take a good look at Auburn’s No. 39 position in the 247Sports Composite recruiting rankings, because if Freeze takes the reins of this program, Auburn (5-7, 2-6) will get a recruiting jolt. Freeze is made for the NIL era, and he should be comfortable with Auburn’s fiery boosters.
Freeze became the apparent favorite for Auburn’s opener after Lane Kiffin decided to stay at Ole Miss. Freeze acknowledged his interest in Auburn after Liberty’s regular season finale.
Kiffin or Freeze would have been a significant coaching improvement over Harsin, whom Auburn fired Oct. 31, but Freeze’s personality is more suited to what Auburn aspires to. He would do the good humor and politics that Auburn loves, and he would root himself in UA culture in a way that Harsin never could — or Kiffin, for that matter. Freeze’s Southern charm would be a hit on the Plains, and Auburn needs his ability to develop quarterbacks as well.
Freeze, however, shouldn’t wait for his recruiting classes to take shape to relaunch this list.
If Freeze becomes the coach of Auburn, his first task is clear: he must go shopping on the transfer portal, because the product he would inherit simply will not suffice.
Alabama’s wide receivers have been consistently carving up Auburn’s secondary throughout this Iron Bowl, while Bryce Young went down one last time at Bryant-Denny Stadium with a brilliant display of 391 total rushing yards. . Young enjoyed plenty of pocket time as the Auburn forward failed to generate pressure.
I’m not sold on Alabama’s college football playoff bid, even after losses to Clemson and Ohio State, but Crimson Tide’s 516 rushing yards against Auburn at least gave the committee some selection something to consider.
As Auburn’s next coach scours the portal for talent, he must be intent on stockpiling offensive linemen. Despite starting a veteran offensive line, the Auburn forward hasn’t topped the opposition consistently enough this season.
Oh, and I committed a journalistic sin by burying the lede: Auburn needs a quarterback upgrade. Auburn’s offense is one-dimensional with Robby Ashford at the wheel.
Quarterbacks languished under Harsin. They thrive under Freeze.
Auburn fans know that, and not just from his tenure as Ole Miss coach.
At Liberty, Freeze turned Malik Willis into a third-round NFL draft pick after Willis failed to earn the starting job from Auburn in two seasons playing for Gus Malzahn.
Ashford is a great runner — he sped through the Alabama defense on a scoring first-quarter run that gave Auburn a short-lived lead — and he threw a perfectly thrown touchdown pass to Ja’Varrius Johnson .
But he also racked up failures, as he did throughout his first season in the red shirt. Playing for Freeze would do Ashford good, but Auburn needs to add more options to its offseason quarterback competition.
Look to LSU as a guide for Auburn’s way forward.
Tigers first-year coach Brian Kelly inherited some talent, but not enough depth, and he looted the gate. Among his transfers, he added quarterback Jayden Daniels, who transformed LSU’s offense as the Tigers shocked Alabama and won SEC West.
Seeing Freeze on the Auburn sideline is not a result Nick Saban should want. As an Ole Miss coach, Freeze beat Saban twice and led the Rebels to two New Year’s Six Bowl appearances.
Freeze quit in 2017 amid a personal and professional scandal, but he was never accused of not knowing how to coach. In fact, his offensive approach at Ole Miss proved so effective that it inspired Saban to modernize Alabama’s offense the way Freeze did.
Freeze yearns for another shot in the SEC, and he’s always been a logical option for Auburn.
With Auburn’s NIL collective and Freeze’s handy transfer portal, he could transform the Tigers’ roster and ensure the Iron Bowl’s talent differential isn’t as lopsided as it is. appeared on Saturday.
Blake Toppmeyer is an SEC columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.
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