Hugh Freeze is fixing Auburn football's offensive line, slowly but surely. As 247 Sports' Nathan King relayed, the Tigers have done well to turn it into a strength this offseason via NIL wins with their own players and in the transfer portal.
"A couple internal retention wins, along with two key transfer pickups, have Auburn well positioned on the offensive line heading into 2025. Starting right guard Jeremiah Wright, who had an extra year of eligibility to exercise from the COVID season, made it official what had been expected within Auburn's building for weeks. He will be back for his final college season, after his first year as a full-time starter in 2024. That comes after Dillon Wade, who was hoped to be Auburn's starter at left guard but had to often play left tackle in 2024, also announced he will remain at Auburn with his final year of eligibility," King wrote.
"Combined with rising junior, Auburn has plenty of experience returning in its interior offensive line."
Freeze is fixing an issue that essentially got Gus Malzahn fired and certainly did Bryan Harsin no favors. Malzahn's lack of trench recruiting made the Tigers a perennial eight-win team, good enough for the Music City Bowl but not good enough to come close to the SEC Championship. Nix was running for his life constantly during the 2020 season and still didn't have good protection in 2021 under Harsin.
If the losing of the last two years was a sacrifice to get Auburn's offensive line up to par with the Alabama's and Georgia's of the world, it will have been worth it.
But Freeze needs the OL to actually be better. He needs to have nailed the QB position with his three incoming recruits, Jackson Arnold, Deuce Knight, and to a lesser extent, Ashton Daniels. He needs to put together a game plan that maximizes his talent, not confuses them. Payton Thorne and Jarquez Hunter can help provide the context there.
All the celebration on the recruiting trail is nice, but things actually need to change on the field for Tiger fans to believe things are finally looking up after years of futility.