Coach Hugh Freeze, dressed a fire, white Auburn hoodie, sat down with the media to discuss the Ole Miss loss and the upcoming Mississippi State game.
Opening Statement…
Obviously, the last three weeks, I think we’ve lost games to the number one, 12, and 15 ranked teams in the country. I felt like we had a chance at two of those at home. Any time you have a chance to beat a team that’s highly regarded, then you certainly regret it. You look at everything and think – ‘Man, if we could’ve done this, if we could’ve done that.’ So, all of those things. But I think it speaks volumes for how our kids are playing, and I tell you what I know it speaks volumes for is our incredible fans at Jordan-Hare. I just continue to be amazed, and it’s a great home environment. I know that they’ve endured disappointing years and certainly are in the growing pains with us right now also, but their energy and their support – I just can’t say enough about that for them.
I think they sense what I sense, and that is that man, we are Auburn. We should take a backseat to no one in recruiting, and that’s the approach we’re taking. While there are some certain bumps in the roads, and people make of those what they will. That’s you guys, that’s us, that’s fans. Everybody makes of it what you will, but they’re temporary. The time is coming when people will sense what Auburn truly is, like our fans already do. I’m just thankful for them.
Looking at the (Ole Miss) game, it’s just, you know, the negative plays. Our kids played extremely hard. I’m proud of that.I thought our defense, outside of just a couple explosive plays – which when we’re playing a team in the nation that has got to be one of the top teams in the nation for explosive plays, you’re gonna get some. There were two that we probably could’ve done better on and didn’t get quite communicated like they should have. One was on our coaching staff, and one was our players just didn’t execute the call correctly. I wish we could have those two back. Then that first third-and-15, on the first drive, they scored a touchdown on the pass interference. I thought our kid was in a great position and did a great job on that. Outside of that, I thought our defense played really, really well.
Offensively, some of the negative plays that got us behind the chains were a combination of the same thing. Really, what haunts us is the lack of third down production. When our defense holds them to 2-of-14 or something, and I think we were 4-of-11 or something in that regard, we need to convert those. It was disappointing to see us not do that. Again, growing pains for sure. But I’m proud of our kids, proud of our fans, and excited to be back in Jordan-Hare Saturday night.
On being content with rotating quarterbacks…
Whatever our offensive staff convinces me is the best approach to give us a chance to win a game. I’ve said from day one that I think Robby has a place, and is his place every down? We’ll see this week. If it’s a package that enables us to continue drives. I think we always have to look at those things right now, with the current state of who we are. I’m not content, though, with anything right now offensively.
On play calling during the game…
(Coach Montgomery) is calling the plays. I obviously have input. I’m never one to sit up here and place blame on coaches. It’s a combination. It’s all of us. I certainly listen to the plan and evaluate it, but it’s harder for me than I thought with the verbiage to be involved in every area. I paid a lot of attention to tight redzone. We’ve been pretty good in the redzone at times, but we’re not getting there enough to find out if our plans are really good or not. So, it’s a combination. I’ll jump in from time to time, as do the O-Line coaches and others, but (Coach Montgomery) is the play-caller currently.
On what can get better with the offense…
I’m always an optimist. I thought we were going to be pretty good last week and I’m going to believe that about this week, also. I’ll do everything in my power, as soon as I get done with this meeting, to get started on that and to see how much better we can get this week because it’s obvious we can get better. We should get better. That would be the goal, and my focus will be on that this week.
On if he has ever had offensive numbers like this as a head coach…
I think you can go look at my offensive stats everywhere I have been, and the answer is no. Those are the challenging times that hit you right in the face. You ask a lot of questions, and it certainly challenges you, but I think that is where the most growth happens for people that handle it the right way. We have played some good football teams. Some of it is us, some of it is them, but no, I have not experienced a stretch quite like that.
On being involved in calling plays…
I was very involved in that 13-personnel package last week. I really thought we might have shortened the game with that. It did not work quite like we anticipated. We had some really good plays out of it at times. It is not always the play caller. Any time I sit up here, the last thing I want to do is throw our kids under the bus because they are trying hard, and I am not going to do that. But you all have been around the game long enough to know that sometimes you might have a really good call, and it just did not get executed right. Play one of the game should have been a 50-yard run. We are eager and excited, and Robby is so athletic. Everybody thinks it is going to be a zone read but the first play was a zone slap play. There was not a read; you hand that sucker off. I obviously did not coach him well enough on what was going on there.
Later on, we did the same thing and he pulls it down to the 1-yard line. There were some good things in there but that first play you go minus-3 and it was going to be a good run. Yes, I was very involved in the big package there. We had a great coming out plan there too. We threw the slip screen, we get called for pass interference. It seemed like every time we would have something positive going, we would get a bad break.
On seeing improvement in year one…
Yes, the things I see behind the scenes that you do not have the privilege of seeing I think is establishing the culture. One of those is playing hard. I think we have done that, except for one game, up to the standard that we expect. Creating a standard of accountability in little things. I really believe that long term for Auburn to be where I want it to be, those little things, you can’t slide on those. When I got here they maybe felt like they could. We are getting better each week. If you think you can be five minutes late or you think something is optional, but it only is to you, I am a firm believer that that is the same thing that can happen on a Saturday when you call cover two and they may not want to play a cover two that time. I see the growth in that, and I see the growth in our team room, and in recruiting.
This is Auburn and it should take a backseat to no one. I do see the growth. Have I seen the results that you want on the field? Again, we have played a very difficult stretch of games. We had a chance to win a couple of those against top teams in the nation. In its own way it is encouraging.
On balance of two QB packages…
They are doing two different things. Whether that’s smart or not, I don’t know. We have to figure that out. We obviously think it’s smart. When they are doing two different things, I don’t think that’s an issue. They are confident in what they do. Here is your package, get really confident with that. It’s not like we are asking one to go do the whole game plan right now. There are two distinctively different packages.
On leaning in on the run and building the passing…
I told the staff yesterday that we have to be more balanced. I firmly believe you play to your strengths. I do think that we have proved we can be somewhat successful running the football, but I do think that we have to play balanced football. We must find the things that our players can do – receivers, quarterbacks, protections – and be more aggressive in calling those. I expect to see that change some, but I’m not sitting here saying to you that you won’t see more runs than passes. I think we have to play to our strengths. Now, this team we are playing this week, they are really chaotic on defense. It’s really hard to consistently run the ball on them and hard to protect. We have a lot of things facing us for sure.
On the status of Wesley McGriff…
He was just in my office working with me on the accountability of the team. He’s making sure our kids are accountable. He’s dealing with a personal issue, and I think he will get through it just fine.
On the recruiting turnout this past weekend…
The turnout was incredible, and I think they see people that really look at this objectively. I don’t know what our class rankings have been the last five years prior to our arrival or anything, I don’t know what they’ve been, but I think they see ‘Man, I could contribute to this,’ and the energy is in the stadium again. They feel that on Tiger Walk. They see that in the stands. I thought every meeting I had prior to the game, after the game, then all day Sunday with those that were still here went extremely well, and I think that we are in on the right kids. We just need a group in the ‘24, ‘25 classes to come join us to really get this thing kick started.
On the status of Avery Jones…
Yeah, that hurt us too, by the way. Connor (Lew) played really well, and Connor is going to be one heck of a football player, but they were changing in and out of a lot of fronts based on our personnel. Some of those five-man boxes on some of those thirds-and-fives or sixes could’ve been really good runs. We weren’t on the same page, and Avery was more cut out for that. We missed him in the second half, for sure. I think he’s probably, I guess the word I would say for this week, doubtful.
On if he is more involved in play calling…
Well, I approve the game plan.
On running more tempo on offense…
My history has been around tempo, and RPO. I think Monty is more comfortable in tempo, and it seems Payton is more comfortable in his skill set with some of that. Again, I look at our team and staff every Monday, and I say that I am going to show them today the execution flaws. Not when the defense was better than us and beat us on a play. I give them credit; they had great calls, and they beat us. I’m talking about the execution flaws when what we had called was correct. I am also going to show them, ‘Look, we let you down here on these plays because they were bad calls.’
As a coach, you want to have as few of those as possible on a gameday. When you evaluate everything, we are not always right on the approach. Our defense has been playing well, but thin at certain spots. The fewer plays that they play, you would think we would have a better chance at being successful. So, those two thoughts of us going fast and me trying to protect them to the strength of our team to give us a shot in the fourth quarter. They really don’t coincide when you think about it. I don’t know if that was the right approach.
On the importance of running different packages…
I have always believed in subbing packages. I don’t know of any team I have played that didn’t go from 11 to 12 to 13. You are still running the same offense. They had a plan. When we went the Robby 13 package, they had a hold. The good thing about it, none of their pass rushers were in the game. That was a good thing, and we tried to take a shot. I do think you’ve got to be to be multiple in your personnel. I have always believed that. That won’t change. In time we are going to get to where the offense is the offense.
On coach Wesley McGriff’s role on staff right now…
He is chief of accountability and in-house recruiting right now. It has been remarkable to see him and hear the conversations he’s having with these kids; he’s got a gift to talk straight to them and they listen to him about accountability and doing things the right way. I’ve been really impressed by him, and he’s helped me with that immensely.
On how much better the offense could be and Jarquez Hunter’s part in that…
I hate to say I have a bad feeling, and I don’t know that I’ve ever had it, but I think this offense could be a lot better. You just wish that we would have arrived and hopefully we start seeing more of at the end of the season or sooner. And Jarquez is a part of that of course. I think he was a lot more patient letting the holes develop for him and running very hard and very physical. It’s good to see it because he is such a great kid, he comes to work every day and thinks about it the right way. You don’t have to worry about him being on a list. He comes to work so it’s good to see him experience that success, and we have several like that too.
Transcript via Auburn Athletics.
