Which Auburn Tigers Freshmen Will Play in 2025?

Hugh Freeze’s Auburn Tigers have a lot of talent, a lot of depth, and a top-10 freshman recruiting class. Despite the roster filled with experienced players, Freeze believes the Tigers’ freshman class can still make an impact on the 2025 roster.

Last year, it was Cam Coleman, Malcolm Simmons, Demarcus Riddick, Malik Blocton, and others who were the focus of attention; now, quarterback Deuce Knight, defensive tackle Malik Autry, and edge rusher Jourdin Crawford will step to center stage.

On Wednesday, Freeze explained that it might be tougher for this group to crack the two-deep on a significantly upgraded roster. 

“There is some depth there that you hope you can slowly bring those guys along and not throw people out there until they’re ready,” Freeze said. “Same in Deuce’s case. You want him to be ready because he is a really big talent. Then you look at the d-line. I do expect Crawford and (Malik) Autry, I don’t know how many plays. I think what we’re looking at in the d-line right now is more depth than we’ve had.” 

So, Freeze is clearly confident in his returning players, as well as his new transfer pieces– but he’s looking for one crucial factor in his freshman.

“They need to buy in,” Freeze said. “We haven’t started camp yet, so I could change this tune. I’m hopeful that they’ll buy in to give us 15 plays that are your fanatical best and be able to rotate those guys and have them do the right assignment with incredible effort. I think we that depth we have, if they can buy into that, I think that’s going to be better for them and for the team, so I do expect a couple of those young ones.”

Some of the young ones that Freeze called out included defenders.

“When you think about the young guys like (cornerbacks) Woodby (Blake Woodby) and (Donovan) Starr, I think they are going to be good. At linebacker, I do expect (Elijah) Melendez to be in the mix there,” said Freeze. “At safeties, we’ve got the two young guys in (Eric) Winters and Newboy (AnQuon Fegans). Kail Ellis is going to be a really good football player. Is he ready this year? I don’t know. But we like those freshmen, too.

“Obviously, we have a class in front of them that has a little more experience, so we’ll have to see how that goes.”

Jackson Arnold was brought in to be the starting quarterback for 2025, but Knight could still find a role as a freshman.

“Probably situational,” Freeze answered when asked who backs up Arnold. “I don’t really want to throw Deuce out there and call (only) quarterback runs,” said Freeze. “Not that he can’t do it, but you want him to be ready for all that. You look at certain roles or certain situations, and I think there’s two different deals going on. If I need somebody to go in and throw a vertical route, Deuce may be the better option there. So I think everything is situational there.”

Freeze’s 2025 class was ranked eighth in the nation, so there’s surely a lot of talent to develop. The Tigers’ skipper mentioned that he was hopeful for the development of these players, especially since his now-seasoned sophomores will be able to impart their wisdom.

The Tigers have a long road ahead of them this season, including their yearly matchups against Georgia and Alabama, as well as an away matchup at Texas A&M– in short, these freshmen are sure to get their chances to show their coach their “fanatical best,” and push for more playing time in the future.