Spring check-ins: Mr Freeze's plot unfolds
Hugh Freeze didn't take a fast track to rebuilding Auburn but the time may have come for the Tigers to return to competitiveness.
You could basically tell the donors pulled the funds out from under Bryan Harsin at Auburn. He was getting slimed in the media with all kinds of accusations while putting together the following recruiting classes:
2021: 19th ranked class, four blue chips, average rating 87.41
2022: 16th ranked class, eight blue chips, averaging rating 89.66
2023: 17th ranked class, eight blue chips, averaging rating 89.66
I’m using “blue chip” here for guys rated 90.00 or higher in On3’s metrics.
Not awful, but nothing to what Auburn normally does. Freeze finished the 2023 class and then went to work on 2024 and 2025 which have looked like this:
2024: 8th ranked class, 12 blue chips, average rating 92.12
2025: 8th ranked class, 14 blue chips, average rating 92.35
Pretty different. The 2025 class also includes 25 transfers, among whom are highly rated transfers such as:
Quarterback Jackson Arnold from Oklahoma
Cornerback Raion Strader from Maryland
Wide receiver Eric Singleton from Georgia Tech
Left tackle Xavier Chaplin from Virginia Tech
I guarantee it took a lot of NIL coin to get those four and the 21 other transfers to Alabama. Freeze has been restocking the Auburn roster with a more typical level of talent and the Tigers are drawing what you’d have to say is one of their easiest schedules in years (relatively speaking) now the SEC West is no longer a thing.
Can this team win the title? I don't know, but I think they could be ready for a big jump.