Auburn believes it’s ready to compete with SEC heavyweights in Year 3 under Hugh Freeze

By Canadian Press on August 19, 2025.

It makes sense to consider Auburn an afterthought in the Southeastern Conference.

After all, the Tigers have endured four consecutive losing seasons — their longest such skid in nearly eight decades — and failed to find much consistency since Tommy Tuberville’s heyday 20 years ago.

They won the national title with coach Gene Chizik and Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Cam Newton in 2010, then lost 14 games over the next two years. They advanced to the championship game under coach Gus Malzahn in 2013, then delivered a string of mediocrity that essentially turned the Plains into a wasteland.

But now, after years of angst, there’s a growing belief that Auburn is on the verge of a turnaround under third-year coach Hugh Freeze. It begins with a new, highly touted quarterback, one of the best receiving corps in the country and a defense that returns several starters while adding some key transfers.

“Our roster is just better,” Freeze said. “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.”

Auburn is 11-14 in Freeze’s two seasons, including 1-8 against ranked teams. He’s winless in four tries against rivals Alabama and Georgia, although both make the trip to Jordan-Hare Stadium this fall.

“Our roster is one that can compete with those teams,” Freeze said.

Upgrades on offense

The problems have been easy to identify. Auburn has the most turnovers (42) in the SEC over the last two years and was downright dreadful in the red zone in 2024.

But there’s hope. Quarterback Jackson Arnold (Oklahoma) transferred in along with left tackle Xavier Chaplin (Virginia Tech) and right tackle Mason Murphy (USC). Arnold was sacked 35 times in 10 games last season but expects to stay more upright — and have better targets — at Auburn.

The Tigers boast sophomore sensation Cam Coleman alongside Bryce Cain, Malcolm Simmons, and Perry Thompson — a group of in-state receivers dubbed “the Freeze Four.” Auburn beefed up the unit by signing Georgia Tech’s Eric Singleton Jr. and Wake Forest’s Horatio Fields out of the transfer portal.

“It’s a bunch of studs out there,” Arnold said.

Defense should be better, too

Consecutive top-10 recruiting classes should show up on defense in 2025.

Defensive end Keldric Faulk, who recorded seven sacks as a sophomore, is widely regarded as a top-five draft pick. He anchors a defense that includes several sophomores stepping into bigger roles, including linebacker Demarcus Riddick and much of the secondary.

“I feel our defense could be the best in the country, in my opinion,” Faulk said. “I feel like everybody has another year under them. Really that’s another year of maturity. So I do expect a lot out of our whole defense. We should, at the end of the year, be the best defense in the country.”

Scheduling quirks await

Auburn opens the season Aug. 29 at Baylor, which landed former Auburn QB Walker White in December. Will he remember the Tigers’ formations, hand signals and audibles?

“It does make for an interesting week when you start thinking about, ’Oh, heck, it’s the same system and verbiage,’” Freeze said. “That’s something you do have to think about.”

The Tigers also begin SEC play at Oklahoma, which surely will be fired up to get a shot at ex-starter Arnold in Norman.

The rest of the slate feels manageable

There’s no doubt that Auburn’s three-game stretch against No. 18 Oklahoma, No. 19 Texas A&M and No. 5 Georgia — the first two on the road — will go a long way to determining whether the Tigers can reach 10 wins for the first time since 2017. The rest of the slate feels somewhat manageable. It includes very winnable games against Ball State, South Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Mercer.

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Mark Long, The Associated Press