Coach Hugh Freeze sat down with the media on Monday to move to talk about moving on to Arkansas.
Opening remarks…
“The disappointment from Saturday night can’t linger. We’ve got to move on. We know our past four opponents have a combined record of 25-3 and are really, really good football teams. Which, when you look at how close we are to winning each of those games, it gives me great hope. And I think that’s what you hold onto in times like these, the fact that you’re really, really close. Truthfully, as a coach, I don’t know if there’s a lot you can do about a dropped pass here and there that makes a difference, or a missed field goal that make a huge difference in these games. Keep encouraging and believing in those guys to make the next catch, the next throw. But there are a lot of things you can do to fix things that are hurting us in critical moments, and that’s something that I know I can do, and I know we can do as coaches, and we must demand it of ourselves that the details that are hurting us in critical moments – whether it’s the depth of a route or the blocking technique against a different front – we have to fix those. And I know that we can. That, I believe, is the secret to getting us over the hump in these games. Obviously, we’ve got to make the plays that come our way when they are there. I think that game’s totally different if we do. Even at that, I think our defense played with incredible passion. Our offense played with really good effort. We just are not consistent enough, over and over again, at this time. And that’s why we’re sitting here feeling like we are about a team that’s played four top-15 teams right down to the wire. Excited to get us better this week as we travel to Fayetteville.”
On potential personnel changes this week…
“We’re looking at everything. Unfortunately the first change is at center. I know it’s been announced, many of you have already heard, Connor Lew tore his ACL. One of the toughest things about coaching is watching kids go through the way they prepare and work all year long for these 12 opportunities in regular-season play. He’s an incredible leader, too, and an incredibly smart guy that we obviously missed some in the second half. Kail (Ellis) battled his tail off, and Kail’s going to be a really, really good player. But there’s nothing like experience of having to get up there and reset a protection based on a look, and then having to do that and snap the ball with great accuracy so that the timing of plays is good. That’s the first change that’s got to be made. We certainly hate that for Connor. But he’s a great kid, he’ll be back and be better than ever for next season. But losing him does hurt for sure. We’ll get Kail ready of course. We’ll also move Mason (Murphy) in there some to get some reps. Too Tall (Izavion Miller) out at tackle. We’ll try that combination some also, so we’ll see how that goes. We did that some in practice today. Mason is very smart, played a little bit of center, not a lot. But he kind of understands. He’s used to hearing all the calls that we need to make, particularly being on the road. We’ll see how he functions in there this week when we go good-on-good for sure, and also Kail. Dylan Senda will be ready to go also.
“You have to start looking, as well as Jackson (Arnold) played in the first half the last two games, you have to start looking at everything. Why did we not have the winning ways, and sitting here feeling like we do? We’re going to get him and Ashton a lot of reps and see where it goes from there.”
On any conversations with John Cohen and what a statement of support would mean…
“It’d be huge. That would make everyone feel a lot better, for sure. I haven’t talked to John (Cohen). I will say John has been so supportive ever since my hire. I don’t get too much into, they have a job to do, certainly, and he has people he has to answer to. I know how close we are, and I know I can get this fixed. We’re too dang close. We have to get a little bit better play and a little bit better coaching at a few spots. I want a chance to fix this. I’ve totally gotten off of all social media, so I’m not sure what exactly was said in those other cases, but that has to be reassuring to those people in there that they believe they can get it fixed. Again, I’ve trusted John since I’ve been here to do the right things, and he has to do what he feels is best for this program, of course. I think it’s us. I think we fit Auburn. I think we fit the Auburn culture. I think the culture in the building has changed. I think the talent level has changed. Unfortunately, we just haven’t gotten over the hump in a very difficult stretch of games, but I believe that’s coming very, very soon.”
On Perry Thompson…
“I’m really proud of him. The guy, truthfully, when he got here had no idea how to practice. The talent was there. He knew how to run a go route, but he didn’t know how to take a release off of anything or what different coverages looked like. He wasn’t the only one. Malcolm (Simmons) was that way, too. Cam (Coleman) was to a certain extent. Cam was more prepared, but to see him starting to enjoy playing the game and having success, that’s really what coaching is about is developing those guys. You have to give Marcus (Davis) and Coach (Maurice) Harris and Heath (Dedeaux), those guy who work with him every single day, a lot of credit. Nobody was more bothered on the sideline than him after he dropped that one on the second or third possession, and I love to see that. He’s just getting better and better every single day. I have to remind myself that we’re playing these top teams very tough, but we’re still fairly young at some spot. He’s still a young kid, but I’m really excited to see his development.”
On Alex McPherson…
“I believe in Alex McPherson. He believes in himself. That’s the first time he’s missed any kicks inside the 40-yard line in his career, and he missed two, and that’s just so uncharacteristic of him. He kicked beautifully all week long. He’s mentally strong. He’s been through a lot and certainly feels the weight of the loss for everybody. Feeling like, ‘Man, if I could just make one of those, maybe the game is different’. Nobody in here doubts him or has any less belief that he’s going to make the next one.”
On what can be fixed on offense…
“The details. We have to coach harder, demand more of ourselves and of the kids. The answer can’t be, ‘I don’t know why he ran it right the first quarter and he didn’t the third quarter’. That’s no longer acceptable, nor is you run inside zone in overtime that we’ve been averaging, I don’t know six yards on a carry, and we get beat inside at a tackle position where just, the footwork for that, you don’t get beat inside on that play. Let him beat you outside. That’s fine. Whether it’s the ball has to come out to your second progression. It has to come out and it’s there, so turn it loose. We have to demand more. Our coaches are very clear on how I feel right now about that and hopefully we lessen maybe what we’re carrying. There’s zero room for excuses.”
On previous remarks that Ashton Daniels could redshirt…
“Not anymore. We are going to play to win. He’s prepared to play the last few (games), but if you go watch the game and you’re watching it live, it’s really hard to complain about Jackson (Arnold) in the first half of the last two games, for sure. That game could have easily been 14-0 after the second drive, and Jackson was playing at a high level. We have to get that consistency throughout the game or we have to go find a spark.”
On Kail Ellis…
“He’s a mature kid for his age, but it’s really his toughness and preparation. He will spend time up here, hours with Connor Lew getting himself ready as he has been. He has a high football IQ and is going to make some mistakes. Got to make sure his snaps are a little toned down. They were a little high and hard at times. On a goal-line play, it kind of throws off your timing. We had one critical third down; I wish I had that call over again. But it certainly is not very good if the timing is off to get it to the running back headed downhill right now. But again, it is his first go-around in an SEC game, and honestly, he graded out pretty well. There’s a few pass protection issues, but that’s to be expected, and hopefully we can get all those cleaned up with the time he has to prepare this week. But he’s going to be an outstanding player. Hate to have to throw him out this quite early, but that’s the hand we’ve been dealt.”
On the play of Xavier Atkins and Robert Woodyard Jr. …
“It’s Robert’s best game since we’ve been here, by far. That’s a kid that really struggled and contemplated ‘Do I need to move on?’ in the crazy (transfer) portal world. I give a lot of credit to his father, who just spoke real truth to him. He hung in here and now he’s worked his tail off to get better and better and played his best game. (Xavier Atkins) continues to play at a high level.”
On who will be the starting QB at Arkansas…
“I would say the expectation is for (Arnold) to start. He’s led us on two scoring drives to start the last two games and hopefully that is what happens in this one also. We’ll go day to day, but that’s the expectation.”
On the energy on the sideline vs. Missouri as opposed to the second half vs. Georgia…
“I told the team this morning it was a definite, a different feel and energy. Even after the drops and the missed field goals, I just didn’t see a sulk. Both sides trying to encourage one another, and I thought we took a big step in the right direction in that regard. Even the young men that weren’t participating in the game I thought were vital and helping do that. And so there were a lot of people picking up the guys that had some critical drops, and Alex obviously has plenty of encouragement, so I was pleased. I thought the energy on the sideline was good. It’s always going to be a little different from offense to defense. The defensive guys, there’s a little more juice there. Offensively, you’ve got to have that energy, and when you’re scoring and doing well, there’s certainly more energy. After the first drive it was off-the-charts good. Jackson laid his body on the line to get us down to the goal line and punched that in. The energy’s really high. Then you had a few drops, the next, really, three possessions, and that kind of cost us some opportunities and even then, I thought the energy was good. But it’s certainly like, you better get in there and you start getting on the iPad and looking at the looks and you don’t have a whole lot of time to talk about much else, but you better figure out here’s how they’re playing and here’s what we need to go to and here’s what we need to do next, but definitely thought that the energy on the sideline was really, really good.”
On the freshmen playing key roles on defense…
“Those freshmen continue to grow whether it’s (Blake) Woodby, (Eric) Winters, Malik (Autry), (Jourdin) Crawford, (Jared) Smith, (Bryce) Deas, (Elijah) Melendez or (Xavier Atkins). All these young kids that we’re playing over there. (Donovan) Starr is going to be really good also. The future’s bright with those guys. We’ve got a lot of good talent over there and they’re getting better and better week in and week out it seems.”
On the role of play calling to help Jackson Arnold find rhythm…
“I think we’re calling things that (Jackson Arnold) feels really good about. There are times on third and longer that nobody feels comfortable. Particularly, I thought Missouri had two of the better defensive ends we’ve faced. I think they’re one of the more complete teams we’ve faced in all aspects, which gives me hope that we’re really close. But we’re not carrying much that we don’t think he can do other than maybe some third and long deals that are not so much ‘can he do them?’ It’s ‘can everybody hold up in time for us to get this completed?’ And if not, we probably need to take it out and let’s try to get our guys a shorter route and see if they can’t run for the first down or go for it on fourth (down).”
On any concern of the defense taking a step back later in the season…
“I don’t have any concerns other than that we’re facing one of the more talented offenses I’ve seen. I watched (Arkansas) this morning and they’re really talented on offense. (Taylen) Green is playing at an extremely high level, has a really good running back, tight ends, receivers and is making those plays that are not designed at a high level. Bobby (Petrino) does a really good job coaching the offense. I expect our kids to come and compete like they have every time, but this team’s scoring a lot of points on some really good defenses so it’s a great challenge for us for sure based on what I’ve seen on tape. The expectation is that we’ll play at a high level with great action and execution. We still have things that we can get better at and clean up. Watching the tapes with the defense this morning, going over the good and the bad, we still don’t cage the ball really well at times and it’s usually younger guys that we mentioned. But they’re better than they were, or play with the right leverage on a pass route on where your help is. We need to improve that this week for sure and we have to stay in coverage when we’re in coverage because (Green) will rip it over your head.”
On attacking the perimeter in the run game…
“That really depends on how they are playing you. Jeremiah Cobb obviously has the talent and speed to do that. I thought he ran inside the tackles really well, too, the other night. We will always try to mix that up. If Arkansas, again, you are kind of facing a two-game sample size on the defensive side, so you are trying to decide how much do you make of that, and in these two games, they have played one style of football pretty much. It doesn’t tend to lend toward a whole lot of easy perimeter runs, because it is a ton of man coverage, and they are playing with leverage over your tight end. So we will have to see how they are playing us, but again, in the two-game sample, that tends to be a high percentage of who they want to be.”
On the drops by receivers in the last few games…
“Continue to get on the JUGS (machine); they will be on them every day. It’s really hard to explain, as a coach, there are some things that set you off, and you want to go off on kids at times, like quarterback or receiver, but it’s really hard to do that to guys that you know care, and they have the capability of making those plays that change the game. It changes the season when they make those plays. You have to tell them to play the next play. I’ve seen you do it a thousand times, and you are very capable of doing it, and try to encourage them. The things you can be very, very hard on them about is route running, depth of it, technique, but don’t think it’s wise to really give it to them when they have a crucial drop. Just haven’t seen that work out, and I coached receivers; that’s how I started. I don’t think that’s the ticket. You encourage them of what you know they can do and how you have seen them do it over and over again, and they will bounce back from it typically.”
