One Player Can Make or Break Auburn Football’s 2025 Season, Expert Says

The Auburn Tigers have a lot to improve on from last season. Despite new head coach Hugh Freeze’s recruiting breaking the internet for a short time, the Tigers were ultimately held back from playing at their full potential.

Some blame coach Hugh Freeze himself, but most Auburn fans would point in the direction of one position that needed improvement: quarterback. Payton Thorne, though certainly not an Auburn Hall of Famer, produced a top-10 yards-per-play offense and kept the team moving in a time of rebuilding, but fans believe it is time for an upgrade.

Auburn’s transfer portal moves certainly reflect this theme, as joining the Tigers’ already dominant receiver room, among others, is Eric Singleton Jr, who was the top-ranked receiver in the portal before announcing his transfer to Auburn.

CBS Sports’ Chris Hummer thinks Hugh Freeze may have found the improvement he’s looking for in new Oklahoma transfer quarterback Jackson Arnold.

Arnold, a 6-foot-1, 211-pound junior, was a five-star prospect when he committed to Oklahoma in 2023, and is now a four-star transfer. CBS Sports' Chris Hummer believes that Arnold “is the type of talent who can help the offense take another step.”

There’s just one issue: Arnold was benched halfway through the 2024 season due to shaky play. Most have come to speculate that these issues stemmed simply from poor offensive line and receiver play, things Arnold will almost certainly not have to deal with at Auburn (at least to that degree).

Despite this, Arnold is “a big bet” for the Tigers, writes Hummer. Hugh Freeze is putting essentially most of his chips– he still has Deuce Knight, but he’ll be a true freshman– on Arnold being the solution for the Tigers in 2025. The problem then becomes that no one, admittedly, knows how he’ll perform the first time he steps into Jordan-Hare Stadium as an Auburn Tiger.

Hummer writes that “Arnold is the biggest swing player of the offseason,” as he makes the bold claim that Arnold, almost single-handedly, will decide the fate of our season. If he performs well, Hummer believes, the Tigers could make a playoff push. If he doesn’t, Hummer warns of a worse season than 2024, despite the immense talent around Arnold.

Arnold could very well be the “biggest swing player of the entire offseason,” but this season may not be as dependent on him as the world thinks. After all, Deuce Knight, a former four-star, waits in the wings eagerly for his first opportunity– and I guarantee you he doesn’t have an issue starting as a true freshman.

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