Transfer can give Auburn weapon it hasn’t had since Seth Williams

Transfer wide receiver Shane Hooks, who spent the last two seasons with Deion Sanders at Jackson State before making his way to the Plains this past May, could give Auburn football a weapon the program hasn’t had since Seth Williams according to AL.com’s Matt Cohen.

“If he can play as he did in the scrimmage in a game against a team wearing a different helmet, Hooks ability on contested catches — and running after the catch, as Freeze noted — gives Auburn a weapon it hasn’t had on the outside since Seth Williams, Darius Slayton or Sammie Coates — and only Coates was legitimately close to breaking Auburn’s more than two-decade drought of a 1,000-yard single-season wide receiver,” Cohen wrote. As the AL.com writer suggests, Hooks has made his way to the top of the Tigers’ wideout totem pole.

“Slowly, Hooks became more comfortable and has seemed to work his way to the top of Auburn’s broad wide receiver rotation,” Cohen wrote. “Freeze has mentioned eight wide receivers, including Hooks, who he foresees as part of Auburn’s top group of targets at the position, and that didn’t include Koy Moore and Malcolm Johnson Jr. who continue to deal with injuries.”

Hugh Freeze believes Auburn football transfer Shane Hooks can improve

Hugh Freeze pointed out that while Hooks has been a standout, one that could’ve made Sportscenter if his fall camp highlights came during a real game, the Auburn football transfer still needs to improve his timing after spending multiple seasons in the SWAC.

“I wish he played the game a little faster,” Freeze prefaced before saying, “We’ve got to get him to do that. I think some of that comes from maybe not playing against the speed of this level yet. If we can get him convinced to run every route and knowing, ‘Dude, you can get a break. Run this route like the game depends upon it.'”

Now being defended by the top DBs in the world, in a conference that has several teams worthy of the “DBU” label, Hooks needs to channel his other-worldly athleticism in a way that works at an SEC pace. He does that, and Payton Thorne is able to play at a level comparable to at least a 2019 Bo Nix, and the Tigers will shatter the modest expectations given to them by pundits and sportsbooks across the country.