First Year expectations?

[AU_Tiger_88 417]

10 minutes ago, sevenlee36 said:

I would like to know what type of offense and defense to expect. Run first? 4-3 defense?

^^This along with who we get in the portal...will have a better idea post A-day

[zeroforwinger 443]

3 hours ago, DAG said:

Have you seen the last 48 hours with people calling others rapist, quoting scripture , etc

I am not going to assume anything as that seems to be an ongoing issue. Glad you weren’t being serious though 

Yeah I’ve been trying to tune out the crazies. He’s our coach and I’ll give him the chance to turn it around. 
 

As far as realistic expectations, I’d say 7-5 or 8-4 is where I land. 

[Win4AU 4,052]

I think Auburn sneaks up and beats either Bama or UGA next year.  I don’t know UGA’s roster but they will be breaking in a new QB.  At home, earlyish in the season with the crowd can give Auburn the first win over UGA in a minute.  Never discount JHS magic in the Iron Bowl.  The 2nd string Qb Bama has this year is super athletic but may not be the best passer.  They are probably replacing both coordinators as well.  Loses on the road to Arkansas and LSU.  Pick up Vandy and Cal.  Depending on the portal the schedule sets up very favorable for Auburn.

[Tiger 8,827]

8 wins will have me feeling good about where we can go under Freeze. If he can return us to where our floor is SUPPOSED to be as a program in year 1 I'd feel like our foundation is being rebuilt

[aubcali 433]

16 minutes ago, Win4AU said:

I think Auburn sneaks up and beats either Bama or UGA next year.  I don’t know UGA’s roster but they will be breaking in a new QB.  At home, earlyish in the season with the crowd can give Auburn the first win over UGA in a minute.  Never discount JHS magic in the Iron Bowl.  The 2nd string Qb Bama has this year is super athletic but may not be the best passer.  They are probably replacing both coordinators as well.  Loses on the road to Arkansas and LSU.  Pick up Vandy and Cal.  Depending on the portal the schedule sets up very favorable for Auburn.

[AUinMS9528 1,086]

If things go really well in years one and two with recruiting, portal, player development, etc.  I think that we can set our expectations high in year 3.   

[Hank2020 3,208]

Gotta wait to see roster tbh.

[fasttimes 356]

at least 7-6. 9-3 or better would be massively exceeding my expectations.

[hqsi99 103]

7 hours ago, AuburnNTexas said:

Our needs are to great to have a complete turn around even with the Portal.  In this years HS class we would have to flip a lot of players most of whom would not help in 1st year.  Then we lose our best two DL in Wooden and Hall plus though not great we lose almost whole O-Line.  Basically we are looking at rebuilding O-Line and D-line both starters and backups.  It is hard to say how good our DB's are because when we had games like bama where we were not getting pressure we were asking them to cover for to long.  We have two very good RB's in Hunter and Alston plus it appears we still have Cobb coming in so we are ok there.  Need an infusion of talent at LB,  current WR's might be ok but need more big ones, we are fine at TE and who knows at QB. 

I am looking for filling out HS class some of whom will be projects especially O-line, Portal to start rebuild but will still have holes.  The good to great teams have enough talent to rotate to keep players fresh and to be ready for injuries. I don't think we can pull in enough talent to be able to do that in 1st year.  

I always hope for the best but what I would like to see if enough of a talent infusion that we can beat the cream puffs, be competitive with the big boys for 2 or 3 quarters before lack of depth hurts us and a scheme on both O and D that hides our weaknesses.

I was about to post something optimistic and then read this...man it is bleak.  Even pulling in a bunch of transfers and JUCO players it's going to be tough to compete with no O or D line.

[CottonCitySlim 4]

With the way the Portal works now, it doesn't take long to rebuild a program;See USC West.

As long as he can land good transfers and recover the recruiting classes we may be back faster than you thing.

Buy some linemen and we can get 9 wins this season.

[Old fan 47 772]

3 hours ago, Tiger said:

8 wins will have me feeling good about where we can go under Freeze. If he can return us to where our floor is SUPPOSED to be as a program in year 1 I'd feel like our foundation is being rebuilt

I didn’t want HF, but will roll with him as I have with all AU coaches over my 40 plus years as a fan. With that being said, we were one bad second half away from beating LSU and one bad first half away from beating MSU. Win those as we could or should have and we are 7/5. Of course I know, hindsight is a dangerous idea to live by, but we are about to see what HF can do with the ever turning portal and the rest of the HS signing class. I think a 7 win season next year is very plausible. Just my thoughts, but I don’t  expect anything over that. 7/5 with a bowl and a chance to be 8/5 with some incoming studs and a building block for 2024. 

[TAYLORKEETON 794]

12 hours ago, CR said:

Lets see what the roster looks like in a few months. The roster as of today is on the low end of the conference. I think that will inprove but it remains to be seen how quick and to what degree

Too soon to tell. When newcomers have all arrived by end of summer, we will have better idea of realistic expectations. 

[TeamZero77 1,784]

11 hours ago, Win4AU said:

No reason Auburn can’t be in the playoff hunt in 2024.  I think I heard yesterday that LSU was in the same position scholly wise as Auburn will be after this year.  Last I checked they play in Atlanta this weekend.  2 portal classes and 1 HS class could get Auburn top 15 depending on how things break.  Obvious goal is to depend less and less on the portal except for roster band aids and home run prospects.

You hit the nail on the head when you said the goal is to depend less and less on the portal except for band aids and great prospects. Lane Kiffin makes his living in the portal and isn't a great recruiter of high school talent. I think most of it is laziness on his part. Coaches that build their roster from the portal will see quick turnarounds but it's going to bite them in the ass down the road and Kiffin will be one of the first it happens to. 

[woodford 3,659]

9 hours ago, Win4AU said:

I think Auburn sneaks up and beats either Bama or UGA next year.  I don’t know UGA’s roster but they will be breaking in a new QB.  At home, earlyish in the season with the crowd can give Auburn the first win over UGA in a minute.  Never discount JHS magic in the Iron Bowl.  The 2nd string Qb Bama has this year is super athletic but may not be the best passer.  They are probably replacing both coordinators as well.  Loses on the road to Arkansas and LSU.  Pick up Vandy and Cal.  Depending on the portal the schedule sets up very favorable for Auburn.

I’m with you. Depending on the portal pick ups I think we can compete with both. Have a better chance to beat Alabama imo however it’ll be interesting to see what both of their QB situations will be like next year 

[AUloggerhead 2,238]

16 hours ago, NoALtiger said:

I can’t imagine any reasonable AU person would expect a playoff spot next year. That’s pushing it a little even for a crazy fanbase like us lol.  

I don't know what the full coaching staff will look like or, what new recruits from HS or the portal will make up the final roster but I can state what my expectations are right now.  They remain the same every year:  get to Atlanta & win the SEC Championship.  Anything else after that will take care of itself.  I acknowledge that I'm a reasonable AU person, plus part of a crazy fanbase.   CHF is credited with re-building programs and all I've got to say to that is "Brother, you came to the right place!"  

[RunInRed 16,430]

The schedule next year is very favorable.  In addition to it being an odd number year (bama, uga at home), we replace Penn State as our major OOC with Cal. The other OOC games are cupcakes.  And then from the East we have Vandy. 8 wins is very doable IMO if we get a few portal guys.

[Auburn Tiger 1,340]

Honestly, Freeze has to come in and win immediately. Given the backlash from fans when he was hired, I’d say he’s already on thin ice with at least 50% of the fanbase. Add in a poor season next year, and those 50% are likely calling for his head and yelling “told you so” even though their problem with him was primarily a “moral” one. 
 

Anyway, I am a little concerned that he seems to be doing what Harsin did and just pulling his Liberty staff to AU. Check out this report. He’s already loaded up with eight Liberty staffers. Same old song and dance. From the Boise staff to a Liberty one. 
 

Also, lots of talent in that portal. Go get those guys. 
 

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/auburn-football/hugh-freeze-has-reportedly-offered-auburn-positions-to-8-staffers-from-liberty/amp/

Edited December 2, 2022 by Auburn Tiger

[TexasTiger 12,948]

23 hours ago, NoALtiger said:

I can’t imagine any reasonable AU person would expect a playoff spot next year. That’s pushing it a little even for a crazy fanbase like us lol.  

Gus set the standard in 2013. With 12 spots now it’s easy.

[gr82be 14,433]

18 hours ago, AU_Tiger_88 said:

^^This along with who we get in the portal...will have a better idea post A-day

A-Day games unfortunately don't show much either. I wish we'd just have a scrimmage game against Troy in April. Just play football, you could still put a no contact jersey on the QB if that's what you want to do. I'm hopeful for 7-8 wins next season but after that I'm hopeful we get in the conference championship mix within 3 years. When we see how the conference schedules move forward with TX and OK we will know more. 

 

 

[aucom96 1,622]

I'd range between 5-7 wins, depending on what we get in the portal. We are in really bad shape, roster-wise. I don't think Cal on the road will be an easy game. A&M will be presumably better (just like we think every year) and we have them on the road, Arkansas is always a tough place to play and Vanderbilt has been dangerous at times this season. Plus Hugh Freeze might get PTSD when NM State comes to town!

[aubaseball 2,625]

2 hours ago, Auburn Tiger said:

Honestly, Freeze has to come in and win immediately. Given the backlash from fans when he was hired, I’d say he’s already on thin ice with at least 50% of the fanbase. Add in a poor season next year, and those 50% are likely calling for his head and yelling “told you so” even though their problem with him was primarily a “moral” one. 
 

Anyway, I am a little concerned that he seems to be doing what Harsin did and just pulling his Liberty staff to AU. Check out this report. He’s already loaded up with eight Liberty staffers. Same old song and dance. From the Boise staff to a Liberty one. 
 

Also, lots of talent in that portal. Go get those guys. 
 

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/auburn-football/hugh-freeze-has-reportedly-offered-auburn-positions-to-8-staffers-from-liberty/amp/

3 of those are off field positions.   1 is strength coach.   

[BizTiger 242]

8-5 or 12-0 LOL

[ellitor 33,104]

2 hours ago, RunInRed said:

The schedule next year is very favorable.  In addition to it being an odd number year (bama, uga at home), we replace Penn State as our major OOC with Cal. The other OOC games are cupcakes.  And then from the East we have Vandy. 8 wins is very doable IMO if we get a few portal guys.

I think we could go into the iron bowl at 9–2, and if the playoffs were starting 1 year sooner be battling for a playoff spot.

[AU_Tiger_88 417]

2 hours ago, gr82be said:

A-Day games unfortunately don't show much either. I wish we'd just have a scrimmage game against Troy in April. Just play football, you could still put a no contact jersey on the QB if that's what you want to do. I'm hopeful for 7-8 wins next season but after that I'm hopeful we get in the conference championship mix within 3 years. When we see how the conference schedules move forward with TX and OK we will know more. 

 

 

I totally understand that A-Day doesn't show much but what it does do is allow you to see mistakes in the base D and O.  That tells you the guys aren't getting it and you may have a rough year.  It also allows you to see the transfers and how they perform.

[Zinzan 123]

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.