Auburn football HC Hugh Freeze, not Lane Kiffin, the transfer portal king
It is Hugh Freeze — and not the man who used the Auburn football program as leverage to get a massive raise from Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin — who rightfully lays claim to the title of the transfer portal king.
Saturday Down South’s Matt Hayes recently handed Kiffin that title in his latest First and 10, which featured the tease of revealing how Lane Kiffin became college football’s transfer portal king. “Portal King?” Hayes asked. “Kiffin is head coach, general manager and his own personnel department every single day.”
The piece focused on how Kiffin was able to land a potential starting quarterback (Oklahoma State transfer Spencer Sanders) from the portal who can start if Jaxson Dart doesn’t take the needed steps forward this spring and how he brought on someone (LSU transfer Walker Howard) who is now married to the program for the foreseeable future due to his use of his one free transfer. If Freeze landed one of the big-name quarterbacks (Brennan Armstrong, Grayson McCall, Devin Leary), there’s no doubt he’d be the one getting that nod. Both Ole Miss and Auburn’s transfer classes are 13 players deep, but AU is four points higher on 247Sports’ transfer portal team rankings for the 2023 class. Keep in mind Freeze was able to pull that off in a few weeks since he was coaching and recruiting for Liberty heading into Week 13 of the 2022 college football season.
Hugh Freeze has outrecruited Lane Kiffin since becoming Auburn football HC
Not only has Freeze outdone Kiffin in the transfer portal on short notice, but his Auburn football program has soared past Ole Miss for both the 2023 and 2024 cycles. With a full support staff now in place, who knows how much the deficit between the two will increase.
While Kiffin is focusing on his social media outreach, Freeze is putting his head down and working, even with a good amount on his plate, to achieve redemption for being banished from the SEC back in 2016 for unlawful conduct while coaching at Ole Miss.
That certainly makes Freeze more of a king in this moment at the very least.