Sports

Hugh Freeze Creates Bad Optics With Confusing Mind Games Sparking Panic About QB Position

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Hugh Freeze, Auburn Tigers

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Hugh Freeze continues to confuse Auburn football fans ahead of the Tigers‘ opener against Baylor. His mind games are proving worrisome with the season just two weeks away.

Freeze’s offensive outlook appears both complex and disheveled from an outsider’s perspective. Maybe that’s his intention with the goal of keeping the Bears guessing. Still, it’s raising questions on The Plains.

Freeze is entering a make-or-break year as his seat in Auburn grows warmer. The Tigers have gone just 11-14 over two seasons. He needs to show progress in 2025.

That growth will need to come in the win-loss column, which could prove difficult given a challenging slate. Auburn will start the year at Baylor before facing the likes of Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Georgia, and Alabama.

Getting to a bowl game will be a task. Still, Freeze ensures fans that his team is ready to compete.

“Our roster is just better,” he said in the offseason. “We’re bigger. We’re faster. We’re stronger. Our culture is 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…

“Our roster is one that can compete with those [stronger SEC] teams.”

Freeze believes this is his best Auburn squad. He has talent at wide receiver and a former five-star signal caller under center.

Despite the outlook, he’s keeping his offensive gameplan a mystery.

Hugh Freeze is playing mind games.

He’s done his best to confuse anyone and everyone in his coaching approach.

He created concern when admitting to coddling starting quarterback Jackson Arnold. He’s demanded his defense take it easy on the passer in order to build confidence.

Freeze further worried the fanbase with his plan to use multiple play callers throughout the season.

Freeze suggests that the Tigers will have one coach handling first down calls, another on third down plays, and himself on second down.

While collaboration is important, too many cooks in the kitchen can create issues. The approach could also ruin any chance for play callers to get into a rhythm with the game flow.

If that wasn’t enough, Hugh Freeze recently added another ripple. We might see three quarterbacks in the season opener!

What is Auburn’s quarterback plan?

Arnold should be the starter when all is said and done. It’s the reason he was signed in the transfer portal.

Ashton Daniels and Deuce Knight will begin the year on the bench, but Freeze suggests that they, too, could see game action at Baylor.

Daniels is an experienced transfer from Stanford. Knight is a highly touted freshman. Freeze likes what he’s seen from both players.

While getting game reps is important, it probably shouldn’t be the expectation when gearing up for what will likely be a highly competitive opener.

Much like the play calling approach, rotating quarterbacks could impact tempo and comfort. It’s not the best plan with three players yet to take a snap with the program.

The optics are poor. They could lead one to believe that no passer has separated himself from the pack.

Will Hugh Freeze truly use all three players? Barring a blowout, it seems unlikely.

I’d bet on this being a ploy to mask his confidence in Jackson Arnold. At every turn, he’s downplayed the passer’s outlook entering the season.

Hugh Freeze is playing mind games in hopes of keeping his offense a secret up through Week 1. While it may prove beneficial on gameday, it’s worked in creating mass hysteria amongst the fanbase. We’ll see if it pays off against the Bears.