Hugh Freeze challenges Hank Brown ahead of Arkansas matchup
Hugh Freeze didn't celebrate Hank Brown's 235-yard, four-touchdown, zero-interception debut as Auburn football QB1 in a 45-19 win over New Mexico too much during the postgame presser. Instead, the Tigers head coach challenged Brown to do it again against Arkansas in Week 4.
"Hank [Brown] will be the starter next week," Freeze said in the most obvious declaration of the season. "Let’s see what he does when we step up in competition."
Freeze sounds bothered that he's in this situation just three weeks into the year. Instead of having an incumbent who proved capable of carrying the load as the schedule turned to conference play, there's a home-loss to Cal on his 2024 record and many wondering how hot his seat is since the Tigers are now just 8-8 since he became head coach.
Freeze is relying on a redshirt freshman who has only gotten chances when his hand-picked QB, Payton Thorne, struggled mightily to contend with SEC defenses. Sure, most figured Auburn would be a year away from true contention at the start of the year. However, record stagnation, aka another six-win season, will result in the same situation Billy Napier is in right now at Florida.
Freeze sounds either unsure because he might've been pressured to make the move to Brown from Thorne, but he may also be done getting his hopes up too high considering the on-field product the past two years.
Hank Brown can get Auburn football points but DJ Durkin must improve defense
Tiger fans were able to see Florida's defense implode under former defensive coordinator Ron Roberts but the last thing they were probably expecting was his replacement, DJ Durkin, to trot out a defense that harkened back to the poor play of yesteryear. Against New Mexico, no less.
The defense was a problem against the Lobos. When you have a freshman QB with limited reps, that can't continue with programs at comparable levels of recruiting and NIL spending.
Props to New Mexico QB Devon Dampier. He made Arizona's defense look bad too, propelling the Lobos to 39 points in a loss to the Wildcats.
Auburn cannot rely on Brown digging the Tigers out of holes Durkin's unit is creating every week, though. That's not what eight wins is going to look like.