The Auburn Tigers are one of the back-end teams in most SEC football rankings ahead of the 2025 season.
CBS Sports has them at No. 10.
Hail Florida Hail's Alexis Farinacci also has them at No. 10, but he doesn't see Hugh Freeze as having done much besides land Jackson Arnold in the transfer portal this offseason.
Bama Hammer's John Mitchell gave AU another interesting label: one of the "most volatile" teams in the conference. Amidst an ultimately bearish assessment of the Tigers' prospects this fall, Mitchell gave Cam Coleman and Georgia Tech transfer Eric Singleton Jr. a special shout-out: "as good of a duo you'll find in the country."
"Alabama fans won't like to hear it, but odds seem good that Auburn will be better in 2025. How much better probably depends on if Oklahoma transfer Jackson Arnold can run the offense effectively and shake off the issues that plagued him in Norman. He'll have plenty of talent at WR to help. Cam Coleman and Eric Singleton Jr. are as good of a duo as you'll find in the country," Mitchell wrote.
"It's a pivotal year for Hugh Freeze. He's 11-14 in two years at Auburn and the Tigers haven't posted a winning season since 2020. That will probably change this season, but Auburn is probably still not quite good enough to be a serious SEC and playoff contender."
Coleman and Singleton will need Arnold to be the passer he was at John H. Guyer High School in Denton, Texas, and significantly improve from his freshman season at Oklahoma. To be fair, Arnold had two different offensive coordinators and was benched early in the season by a coach who didn't seem to have a plan all year in 2024.
Freeze needs to provide him stability. Deuce Knight is getting his due from Freeze narratively, but there has been clear Arnold endorsements as QB1 from the head coach. That's a good start.
How things pan out in gametime situations will be the seven-figure question Freeze desperate needs a positive answer from this fall.