Auburn Tigers football coach Hugh Freeze revealed that he delegates play-calling differently depending on the down -- with Derrick Nix handling first-down duties, Kent Austin calling third-down situations, and Freeze taking second downs but also having veto power over any plays called on any down.
Confusing? Most think so.
Footballscoop's Zach Barnett definitely thinks so, having asked four questions upon hearing about the strange offensive setup.
"To me, the biggest issue seems to be an overall lack of trust," Barnett said. "Are Nix and Austin going to call the plays they believe are best suited for a given situation, or are they going to call the ones they think Freeze wants them to call? If Freeze is the best coach on staff to call the plays, why doesn't he just call them? If he's not, why is his hand hovering over the joystick? If Freeze is the primary play-caller, why is Nix saying that Freeze has the authority to overrule anything they say? What is there to say if Freeze is calling plays?"
What is the play here for Freeze? Seriously. There's no way he thinks that having such muddled play-calling will create any top-down cohesion.
Perhaps the plan is to blame any lack of offensive success on there being too many cooks in the kitchen. If things don't go well? It was because Austin wasn't effective at making third-down decisions, of course! Rinse and repeat with Nix if Freeze survives an early-season malaise.
This is end-game type stuff.
If it works, Freeze is a mad genius. Should it crash and burn like most expect, leading to his predictable firing, this will be the type of thing some fans will one day grow embarrassed of having ever defended.