Auburn football: Hugh Freeze explains modern recruiting difference-maker
Auburn football head coach Hugh Freeze didn’t just wing it when it came to raising the Tigers’ 2023 recruiting class from as low as the 60s under Bryan Harsin this past fall to now being in the top 20 without knowing the tricks of the trade on the modern-day recruiting trail.
Freeze explained in his first press conference after Early National Signing Day just exactly what it takes to reel in top talent in the post-2021 college football realm. “There’s no running from it, the On To Victory NIL, and NIL in itself, is a factor in recruiting,” he said.
Freeze was seen on the trail sporting a button-down shirt with the On To Victory emblem, complete with the pouncing Tiger — something that perfectly symbolizes how pundits see AU’s ever-evolving place in the college football picking order.
Auburn football still has room for progress
As great of a job newly implemented Auburn football head coach Hugh Freeze has done on the recruiting trail, there’s still plenty of room for growth on the Plains. While it cannot be glossed over that Freeze had mere weeks to pull off a recruiting coup ahead of Early National Signing Day, it’s important to note that he still has a long way to go before reaching the heights of their two primary rivals.
Alabama and Georgia cleaned up on Early National Signing Day 2023, with the former landing the most 5-stars in the class and the latter finishing with the most 4-stars. This comes after a 2020 Tide title and a 2021 championship for the Bulldogs.
Auburn is not yet (and no longer) a destination where many of the top recruits flock to. At the rate Freeze is going, that could soon change. Of course, the results on the field are necessary. High school recruits know the most money and notoriety go to the teams attracting the biggest television audiences and highest ticket prices. Those tend to be championship teams in the biggest college football markets.
AU could be that, but only if Freeze and co. accept that clearing the bar the past few regimes set is only the beginning of the road.