Auburn football head coach Hugh Freeze was affectionately referred to as the “reclamation man” by Saturday Down South’s Matt Hayes — who sees Payton Thorne as his next project after the signal-caller fell out of favor at Michigan State.
“The Reclamation Man is at it again, everyone,” Hayes prefaced before saying, “He did it with throwaway quarterbacks at Ole Miss and Liberty, and now he has another in his first season at Auburn. This time it’s former Michigan State quarterback Payton Thorne, whom Freeze named the starter on (August 17).
“Another transfer, another 2nd chance. Another opportunity for the Reclamation Man — smack in the middle of his own 2nd chance in the SEC at Auburn — to work his magic again. He did it with Bo Wallace and Chad Kelly and Malik Willis — and won a bunch of big games in the process. Thorne is next in line.”
Hugh Freeze has an ultimate reclamation opportunity with Auburn football
Fans of second chances, redemption, overcoming past mistakes, and any other example of the genre Freeze is in, have to see the multi-level reclamation opportunity the Auburn football program is about to potentially be.
On the obvious personal level, Freeze is at his first SEC job since being let go for a personal conduct violation at Ole Miss. It took years of raising up the Liberty football program, fresh off a jump to the FBS level, for Freeze to get another look following what went on in Oxford; which has been well-documented by just about everyone now.
As for AU itself, there have been three straight years of sub-standard football that’s only been made worse by Alabama and Georgia combining to win the last three College Football Playoff championships. The Plains need this badly.
Luckily, whether it’s the coach, the roster that suffered through the last few seasons, or the fanbase that has supported the program anyway, alignment in goals is consistent across the board.