Hugh Freeze Explains One Way Auburn Offense Can Get on Track

Since a strong 3-0 start to the season, the Auburn Tigers have struggled immensely on offense in their past two games, leading to the Tigers finding themselves amidst a two-game skid. Sacks, penalties, and three-and-outs have plagued the Auburn offense, and Hugh Freeze told the media Monday that he thinks he knows how it can be fixed.

For the Tigers, it starts with Jackson Arnold’s playmaking. “He’s done an incredible job of taking care of the football,” Freeze said, but he admitted that he’d “love for [Arnold] to be a little freer, particularly with the playmakers that we have.”

There’s been much criticism of Arnold this season, particularly as it relates to him holding onto the ball too long in the pocket. This can largely be attributed to the same reason he’s not thrown an interception: he’s just not throwing contested passes against stronger defenses.

This would be great for a quarterback to do with lesser weapons, but the Tigers boast one of the more talented receiving rooms in the nation, with players like Cam Coleman and Eric Singleton proving time after time that when they do get a contested pass, they come down with it.

Singleton had an incredible sideline grab against Texas A&M, in which he quite literally took an underthrown pass out of the Aggie defensive back’s hands, and Coleman has caught multiple highly contested touchdown passes, but they’ve only been thrown to him against weaker secondaries. 

Coach Freeze told the media that he spent quite a lot of time working with Arnold on this facet of his game during the Tigers’ bye week, but he admitted there’s still work to be done.

“Hopefully, after our meetings throughout last week and through the game planning this week, maybe he’ll be a little freer to give our kids a chance… [Arnold’s] First and second progressions are pretty good, then he becomes a little hesitant. But we’re working through that, believing him strongly still. I’ve got to do a better job, along with Kent (Austin) and Jesse (Stone), of coaching him to be freer, and when our guys are in some one-on-ones, give them a chance with catchable balls.”

Though a “maybe” isn’t exactly the most encouraging news for Tiger fans, it’s still likely a step in the right direction for the Auburn offense that tallied a single yard in the fourth quarter against Texas A&M.

Arnold will have the opportunity to give his teammates chances with contested passes this Saturday, but it won’t come cheap, as the Tigers are facing one of the SEC’s premier defenses in Georgia.

The Tigers will take on the Bulldogs at 6:30 p.m. CDT back home in Jordan-Hare Stadium. The game will be broadcast on ABC.

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