Auburn football reporter pushes back on radio host's wild Hugh Freeze recruiting take

The War Rapport's Mike Gittens couldn't believe his ears upon hearing SEC analyst Michael Bratton claim that Hugh Freeze is reporting too much from the high school ranks for his Auburn football program.

"I’m sorry what? 'I don’t like the way he’s building it through high school'…respectfully this is a wild take," Gittens prefaced before saying, "Sustainability in CFB is still primarily established through strong high school recruiting with a few exceptions. Hugh Freeze is 100% right there."

Bratton accused Freeze of going to the dollar store to find a quarterback and asserted he wasn't buying the hype for AU.

"I'm not buying the hype," Bratton said. "I don't like the way Hugh Freeze is going about this. 'I ain't spending a million dollars on a quarterback' but you don't have to go to the dollar store to get a quarterback either, Hugh. I think his reputation is overblown because he beat Alabama twice. People forget he lost to Vanderbilt twice in that same span. I think he is not an elite coach. I don't like the way he's building it through high school. You can do that four or five years ago. I think you have to do it in the portal these days. I think there's a good chance heading into next season, Hugh Freeze is on one of the hotter seats in the SEC."

Auburn football getting good mix of transfer portal players and blue-chip recruits

Bratton wants to see portal additions. How's the starting QB (Payton Thorne), a potential WR2/WR3 (KeAndre Lambert-Smith), a potential WR3/WR4 (Robert Lewis), a likely OL starter (Percy Lewis), two likely starters in the defensive trenches (Trill Carter, Gage Keys) and another (Jerrin Thompson) in the secondary?

Freeze has built his roster methodically, doing the heavy lifting in the transfer portal to compete in 2023 and allowing his 2024 recruiting to introduce new stars to the team like the Freeze Four receiving core.

The 2025 class is ranked No. 8, and if there are minimal flips, that will set the team up for big success in 2026 and beyond. Freeze's 2023 and 2024 classes should see jumps in wins this Fall and next.

All is well on the Plains until proven otherwise. The work is being put in on the recruiting trail and little should detract from that until upsets start happening on the field.