Freeze, Auburn 'Doing Things the Right Way' in Early Stages of Revenue Share Era

Last week, Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze, along with athletic director John Cohen, took
to the stand to bring to light some potentially foul play from other schools, especially as it pertains to recruiting.

Essentially, Freeze believes that schools may be promising players money they’re simply not allowed to yet, per the new NCAA rules surrounding NIL and revenue sharing.

“Let me illustrate,” Cohen said in a press conference. “You have an $800,000 offer, and the school says we’re gonna give you $400,000 in rev-share, we’re gonna give you $400,000 through a third party. I’m not 100% sure that everybody in the country is operating under that premise, which is reality.”

Some fans, Auburn and otherwise, thought Freeze and company were simply coping with a disappointing recruiting class, but On3’s Pete Nakos, a respected transfer portal reporter, concurs with their assessment.

“There is more fake cash being thrown around right now than there was four years ago,” Nakos said on X, adding that under-the-table cash is also almost certainly still in play.

Essentially, the argument stands that some schools may be offering their players “promised cash” for their commitments– basically saying, “Commit to us, and we’ll pay you $X amount as soon as we’re allowed to.”

The problem? Beyond the fact schools technically not supposed to do it at all, there’s no way to guarantee these terms are met after Aug. 1, and since these deals would be a lot quieter, it would be hard to dispute if a player were to receive a lower dollar amount than promised.

More pressing than that, though, is the fact that under-the-table cash, as it always has been, is in play. Freeze, though seemingly concerned about others using these methods, holds fast in his interpretation of the rules.

“I mean, it’s hard to feel great when you’re not one of the top-ranked recruiting classes,
and I think Auburn should be,” Freeze said. “But, I’m confident in our administration and
the way that they lead and trust them immensely that we’re doing things the right way.”

Auburn currently has the No. 85 recruiting class in the 247 Sports Composite with seven total commits.

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