Hugh Freeze didn’t want to sunshine pump Auburn football fans ahead of the Tigers’ most brutal three-game stretch of the 2023 season in the coming weeks: at Texas A&M in Week 4, at home against two-time defending College Football Playoff National Champions Georgia in Week 5, and then a bye week before heading to Death Valley in Week 7 to face LSU. On September 18, Freeze acknowledged the vast recruiting differences between AU’s upcoming opponents while falling short of using it as a pre-ordained excuse before potentially losing in College Station.
“I’m probably too candid and honest sometimes for some people, let’s just be really clear,” Freeze said (h/t AL.com). “You’re playing the best recruits in the nation. We’re going to be there soon, and that doesn’t mean you can’t compete and win the game, there’s a reason they are third in the nation on third down defense. They’ve got a bunch of 5-stars in the defensive line and at linebacker and at safety and at corner. They are really, really talented.
“It’s a tall, tall challenge for us in year one to stand toe-to-toe with A&M and Georgia next week and LSU the following week. It’s our goal to get there, but that’s what reality is. We’ve had about eight months to recruit a half a class. These others have been stacking it.”
Hugh Freeze made a plea to 2024 and 2025 Auburn football receiving targets to narrow the recruiting deficit in the SEC
Freeze had a message to Auburn football receiving targets in the 2024 and 2025 recruiting classes back on August 17: be the change you want to see in the SEC and come to the Plains.
“I hope every recruit that I’m recruiting for receiver is listening to me, we’ve got to change that here, and you’ve gotta change that through recruiting,” Freeze said. “Those receivers are a priority for us, the ones that are coming into the ‘24 and ‘25 class.”
Terry Beasley in 1970 and Ronney Daniels in 1999 are the only two receivers to ever amass 1,000 receiving yards in a season for the Tigers. As Freeze continues to reshape the culture of Auburn football, being more like their Yellowhammer State SEC counterpart in Tuscaloosa — mainly producing NFL receivers year after year — has to be the goal to become like the UGAs, LSUs, and Alabamas of the world.