Auburn seeing ‘sunny skies’ in 2023 after being ‘left for dead’ in 2022

Following the SEC Media Days 2023 appearance of Hugh Freeze in Nashville, the Auburn football program is seeing sunny skies ahead of the Oxford, Mississippi native’s first season on the Plains — this after being “left for dead” in 2022 according to Rivals’ Brian Stultz.

“Yes, it’s a new era for Auburn football as Freeze and his staff attempt to rebuild what was basically left for dead,” Stultz wrote. “All of the controversy about his hire is gone; only the results matter when the Tigers take the field on September 2 against UMass. While a black cloud foreshadowed last season, the sunny skies of Tuesday morning showed what was possible for this program.”

Of course, hope for the 2022 season practically ended before it began when AU launched an inquiry into disgraced former HC Bryan Harsin for a mix of allegations that ranged from an affair with a staffer and reported race-based discrimination. While the Boise native was never fired for cause, the tension lingered from an offseason that fractured all of the remaining unburnt bridges in East Central Alabama.

Auburn football doing now what it couldn’t under the last two head coaches

Freeze has Auburn football battling Alabama and Georgia on the trail, with the Tigers in the mix for Crimson Tide commit Perry Thompson and Bulldogs commit Demarcus Riddick. Having AU in the mix for the top in-state talent is vital to the long-term viability of the program competing in the post-NIL era, and the work Freeze is doing to establish relationships across the state with high school coaches will ultimately make his tenure one without the need for recruiting anxiety.

It all needs to come together on the field, but before Freeze even gets the chance to surpass Harsin — something that certainly shouldn’t be difficult — and do everything Malzahn did and more, he is getting the off-field wins he needs in order to have a favorable forecast for the Auburn family.