Analyst Predicts End to Auburn Tigers Turnover Woes

Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze hopes his new quarterback, Oklahoma transfer Jackson Arnold, can turn the ship around, especially when it comes to committing costly turnovers.

Coughing up the ball in 2024 proved to be the Achilles' heel for Auburn in 2024. However, during an episode of "The Hard Count", analyst J.D. PicKell identified transfer portal wide receiver Eric Singleton as an indirect cure to the Tigers’ turnover woes. 

"A lot of Auburn's success in 2025 offensively will go with the confidence of one Jackson Arnold," PicKell declared. "Because when you play confident football, you usually play efficient football. Efficient football equates to somewhat low mistake football, which is what plagued Arnold at Oklahoma. 

“Having Eric Singleton as a consistent match-up winner, to me, manufactures easy touches. Easy touches for a quarterback to a playmaker like Eric Singleton builds confidence, gets him in rhythm, a quarterback in rhythm -- what I just said. Confidence, good things happen, your offense starts to hum."

Singleton is savvy enough to know what soft spots in coverage he needs to drop into in order to help out Arnold when he's in a pinch; his previous game tape at Georgia Tech proves as much.

For all the hype that has surrounded the Auburn deep ball threats ever since Freeze landed on the Plains, simply having a veteran foil similar to what KeAndre Lambert-Smith did for them last season will be crucial for this offense to work.

PicKell is on the money because restoring Arnold's levels of confidence will require him to have a gritty receiver who can win some contested catches and keep the chains moving. The good news for Arnold is that he has several of those types of weapons at Auburn.

Trouble is, the likes of PicKell won't let the Tigers off the hook on promises alone. Arnold and Co. have to prove they have gotten past the mental blockages of last year, and that's going to require playing far more confident and assured football right from the get-go.

"Auburn last year really should have won at least eight games. They gave away a couple of games just from turnovers alone," PicKell insisted. "Cal game, Arkansas game, Missouri game. Turnovers were their Achilles' heel. And you can't sit here in the month of June and say, 'Well if they didn't turn the ball over, it would be a much different team', because, well you did turn the ball over, so what are we talking about? 

“But it's not unfair to have a discussion around how good Auburn could be going forward if they clean up those turnover mistakes with a new person at quarterback in Jackson Arnold."

All told, Singleton might have a major role to play moving forward, but the solution to last season's issues will remain what Arnold can do under center.

Make no bones about it, much will rest on how well they can start the season against Baylor, and whether or not Arnold can play the high-percentage, clean football everyone wants to see.