Zinzan

I don't know the rules (if there are any any more)--can coaches call players on other teams? can their "collective"? I know the NIL is supposedly not "pay-for-play", but how can, say, a Florida collective offer a kid if he doesn't know if the coach even wants that kid?

Every QB is going to OM?

Yeah, hard to have expectations without knowing our coordinators, or the help we'll get in the transfer portal (and the losses). But I'll be disappointed if we don't win the first three games (Umass, @Cal, Samford), and should win @Vandy and NMSU (Hugh's revenge). I really want/expect vengeance Ole Miss and @Arky. So I'll be let down if we don't get 7 wins. We could win 2 out of 3 against MSU, @A&M, and @LSU, but the reasonable expectation is probably 1 win. And we could split against Georgia and Alabama at home. But our only sure wins are Umass, Samford, @Vandy, and NMSU. So no expectations :-), but my prediction is 7-5 or 8-4, with lots of upside potential. I can't see us possibly worse than 6-6.

You know what, you’re right. I focused on his last paragraph, and forgot the sentiment of his first paragraph, lol. carry on.

Look, there are good things and bad things to look at in regards to Hugh Freeze. The OP here specifically asked why he should be excited about the hire. Can’t ya’ll naysayers just let the things to be excited by stand without trying to shoot them down? There are plenty of other threads that are themed to shoot the man down. Looking at the positive, I’m expecting QB development, an improved passing game, an offensive identity, better OL recruiting, and more effort from the HC in recruiting across the board. I expect if defenses load the box and make our QB beat them, we won’t be as helpless as we have been the past couple seasons.

Also throw in the highly-rated offenses, QB development, and highly-ranked recruiting (and effort).

Dan F’in Wetzel. Oh boy, has Pete Thamel weighed in yet? Mostly, the article lays into Freeze for lying to recruits, their families, and players about the NCAA investigation. Wouldn’t all coaches soft-sell how bad an investigation might be going? Not saying it’s right, but it’s not surprising, knowing if this kid doesn’t sign, he’s going to end up at another SEC school where they are doing the exact same things you’re being accused of.

Yeah, ya'll have made most of the relevant points. Stupid of Freeze to get baited into this, but less a violation than a lot of people want to make this out to be. In the end, she blocked him and that should probably have been the end of it, but she won't let it die. She made it public and trots it out now in an attempt to harm his career. What does she want from him at this point? Nothing--she just wants the attention, and she wants this to follow him forever. She complains that Auburn didn't reach out to her--what could she tell them that she hasn't already told the world?

A couple years ago, Mario was practically a done deal, but fell through when they lucked into a PAC 12 championship. Maybe this time we land Lanning now that they’ve lucked out of the P12CG.

I hate the expression JABA, especially when people use it whenever they disagree with a decision, or when things just don’t break well. For me, I think a semi-legitimate use of JABA is targeting former assistant coaches (e.g. Fisher, Petrino, Chizik, Muschamp, Malzahn, Steele, etc). While this is somewhat expected of all schools, it’s particularly JABA when we put on the pretense of going big (forming a search committee, hiring a national search firm, publicizing a 58-point criteria plan, etc), then hire Chizik or Malzahn.

I think there aren’t that many Freeze guys on here. But there are a number of “okay with Freeze” guys that aren’t going to disqualify him for his past mistakes and assume they know his heart today.

No to Dillingham. That truly would have been JABA, plus he already landed a HC job.

I feel bad for Caddy… OL making it difficult to get drives going with illegal procedural calls, inexplicable turnovers… but to be fair, it’s the same s*** Harsin dealt with all season. Who do you blame? Harsin, I guess. 🙂

You don’t say… 😉

Hoping for the best, but mostly glad to get this game over with and getting one step closer to completing the coaching search.