Auburn Tigers head football coach Hugh Freeze desperately needs to emerge as the unexpected dark horse program in 2025, both for the school's and his job's sake.
Greg McElroy believes Auburn's WR room can make that possible.
Getting his recruiting classes ranked in the top 10 consecutively twice heavily buffed up Auburn's lineup. Among them all, Freeze struck gold with Cam Coleman, Perry Thompson, Malcolm Simmons, and Bryce Cain.
Better known as the "Freeze Four," the star in-state WRs, with a major short-term boost from Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets transfer Eric Singleton Jr. and Wake Forest Demon Deacons transfer Horatio Fields, shoulder massive expectations to redeem Freeze's reputation with a winning record this season.
"I love their personnel at wide receiver. That's part of the reason why I'm most bullish about this offense. Cam Coleman's back after eight touchdowns a year ago as a true freshman," McElroy said on Always College Football.
The Freeze Four have been a center of discussion lately, garnering optimistic reviews from across the conferences. McElroy dubs them a cornerstone in every win Freeze will have this year.
Besides them, the analyst has some expectations from Arnold living up to the confidence Freeze has placed in him as well. He might not give a mind-bending, elite QB performance, but just enough to get the job done, and hopefully bring home the win.
"The weight of the world kind of pressed him down, but there were some positive moments last year at Oklahoma. Now, the quarterback run game is what he did really well down the stretch," McElroy explained.
"He's not going to blow you away with 400 yards passing, 12 touchdowns against just three interceptions. But if you look at it the way he played against Alabama, pretty good place to start."
Other rooms, like running back, remain a bit of a concern with Jarquez Hunter gone. That said, Auburn's defense is also in a race with the WR room to steal the spotlight. Returning marquee players like Keldric Faulk, combined with glowing reviews from head coach Freezer in pressers, is again a positive for the program.
We'll see how well both these rather sturdy-looking groups hold up under pressure.