12.31.23.Auburn Football Early edition

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Edited December 30, 2023 by aubiefifty

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he starts about seven minutes and some change

Edited December 30, 2023 by aubiefifty

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Enough on the bowl game Fiddy……sleep in tomorrow morning then pull up some 80s highlights. 

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nothing else new so far folks this morning.......................

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fter another dismal game from Auburn’s offense, where does the blame go now?

Published: Dec. 30, 2023, 7:13 p.m.

5–7 minutes

Auburn fans frustrated after tough loss to Maryland in Music City Bowl

Why Auburn has found itself unable to maintain consistency this season may trace its way back to an offensive coaches’ meeting room that has appeared to be a brain trust with differing means to achieve their ends.

And after a 31-13 loss to Maryland in the Music City Bowl to close out a 6-7 season, that starts with head coach Hugh Freeze and his inconsistent involvement. That see-saw began before the 2023 season with Freeze giving primary play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery and significant struggles of the offense that followed. After Auburn lost to Ole Miss in October, seven games into the season, Freeze claims he “put his foot down” and took more involvement in offensive planning. That seemed to be what was credited for a turnaround during Auburn’s three-game SEC winning streak late in the year.

Freeze commented at points this season on how the coaches he hired would allow him to focus on recruiting. But he had to step back on that plan to help with the offense. During the regular season when Freeze was asked about the well-done job of defensive coordinator Ron Roberts, Freeze said he likes to step out of his assistant’s way until they prove they can’t do the job. At that point in the year, Freeze had already stated how he’d stepped in more with the offense.

The history made Freeze’s comments about what he described as a poor offensive game plan against Maryland, especially fascinating.

“Well, obviously I don’t feel like it was an effective one,” Freeze said after the Music City Bowl loss. “I didn’t get too involved in it for most of the part until this week because of recruiting, and really wanted to kind of evaluate everything about our program.”

Based on Freeze’s comments throughout the season, it would be fair to assume the offense was good when Freeze was heavily involved in preparation, and bad when he wasn’t. Whether that’s the full story is unclear.

“I think honestly he’s always been a part of it,” Montgomery said Friday before the Music City Bowl. “We went into this with that mindset. He’s always had influence on it from fall camp to now and will continue to do that. We went into this with our eyes wide open with the honest approach of trying to put the best thing on the field for our players and giving them the best opportunity to go win.”

Freeze was willing to take blame on himself after the loss, saying the criticism should start with him as the head coach. But statements that he wasn’t heavily involved with the plan until after the Dec. 20-22 early signing period and then saying it was not a good plan instead is passing blame around the staff.

The main complaint Freeze had centered on not running the ball well. Auburn only had 76 rushing yards and averaged 2.2 yards per carry. Freeze’s blame there went not to the players’ execution but more to the schemes Auburn used.

“We have to go look at the run schemes that we had, and did we not play hard up front,” Freeze said. “It’s really hard for me to tell. But they really dominated the line of scrimmage against us. They did load the box now.”

That inability to run the ball plus a three-score deficit in the game’s first quarter meant Auburn essentially had to rely on its passing game — which has been among the 10 worst in the nation this season by yards per game. Both Payton Thorne and Holden Geriner struggled mightily. Thorne completed only 13 passes out of 27 for 84 yards. Geriner only completed one pass. Third-string quarterback Hank Brown was the only productive passer.

The blame could go on the offensive line’s poor blocking. It could go on the schemes Freeze mentioned. It could go on ineffective quarterback play from Thorne that led Freeze to backtrack on his previous vote of confidence in his starting quarterback. It could go on a group of pass catchers that have failed to create separation or any form of dynamic contributions throughout the 2023 season.

The continually spreading blame surrounding the team’s inconsistency leaves Auburn further emphasizing questions it seemed to believe it had solved.

Freeze’s evaluations going into 2024 will focus on a quarterback position that could have a competition he wasn’t previously expecting. And it could take a reflection on an offensive staff that Freeze on multiple occasions, including Saturday, has suggested did not get the job done as needed. Or at least not done his way.

“I’m constantly evaluating players, staff, everything, and if we see that my evaluation has been wrong, then we have to change gears and reevaluate to make us better, then that’s the steps we should make,” Freeze said. “That position should be an interesting one certainly in spring practice.”

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com

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Hugh Freeze says the 'disease of me' plagues Auburn's locker room. What does he mean?

Updated: Dec. 31, 2023, 10:03 a.m.|Published: Dec. 31, 2023, 9:49 a.m.

5–6 minutes

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In New York City, the ball will drop in Times Square late Sunday night.

In Nashville, where Hugh Freeze and the Auburn football team have spent the last week as they prepped for and played in the TransPerfect Music City Bowl, the city will ring in the New Year with a “music note drop” at Bicentennial Park.

But after Saturday’s ugly, 31-13 loss to the Maryland Terrapins to put a bookend on the 2023 season, the chances of Freeze and the Tigers sticking around to celebrate the New Year are slim.

After all, Freeze revealed his New Year’s resolution Saturday night. And considering the depth to it, it’s probably best he get started working on it as soon as possible.

“I think our staff and our young men, starting with our staff, starting with me, have got to create a standard of the way we consistently work, consistently compete and figure our how to be a true team,” Freeze said. “That is my goal in 2024.”

Saturday’s comments from Freeze weren’t the first of the season in that vein.

“The culture has gotten better. The standard has gotten better. The accountability has gotten better,” Freeze said in a press conference on Nov. 27 – two days after Auburn’s regular season finale against Alabama. “I’m hopeful I can continue to build the community aspect of what a team really is.”

In that same answer, Freeze mentioned things like living in an era that means “dating through Snapchat” and how he wishes players would “hang up the headsets” and instead of playing video games after practice, go have real conversations with one another.

It’s crystal-clear Auburn’s locker room isn’t a tight-knit and connected as Freeze would like.

After Saturday’s loss to Maryland, when asked about the team’s disconnect, Freeze chalked it up to a disease he believes is plaguing society.

“It’s just the disease of me. I think that’s in a lot of areas of life now and we’re not exempt to it in our locker room,” Freeze said. “I think we’ve got to face it head on.”

In the words of author and legendary NBA head coach Pat Riley, the “disease of me” is the diagnosis for those who put “personal agendas before organizational success.”

And that’s what Freeze believes is plaguing Auburn’s locker room.

In talking with some of Auburn’s players, they tend to agree with their head coach.

“Completely agree with coach,” Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne said following Saturday’s postseason loss when asked about player-led leadership. “We did not have enough of that this year by any means. It showed.”

Thorne added he was looking forward to getting “the guys who need to be there” together. And even if it takes five hours, them sitting down and deciding what they need to be and what they want their future to look like.

“We have to decide what we want. And when we decide what we want, we’re going to write it down and then we have a template to hold each other accountable to,” Thorne said. “That will be something that will be happening soon.”

Meanwhile, linebacker Eugene Asante is looking forward to establishing the standard during winter workouts.

“It 100% starts with winter workouts,” Asante said. “Because you’re putting your body in a condition to where it’s hard, you don’t want to do it, your body’s worn down -- but that’s when the mental game kicks in. Instead of them leaning on quitting or just tapping out, it’s allowing them to push themselves beyond their limits. And that’s what shows up on the football field.”

For freshman defensive end Keldric Faulk, setting the standard starts with the intricate and often-overlooked things like arriving to team meetings on time and looking coaches in the eyes when they’re speaking to you.

“The standard starts in meetings,” Faulk said. “It’s little stuff like that.”

Whether establishing the standard starts with a five-hour meeting, winter workouts or making eye contact with coaches, it’s evident it’s something that needs attention.

And nothing anyone said pointed to that more than a quip from tight end Rivaldo Fairweather.

“Coach Freeze said, ‘We’re going to set a standard here’ and it’s a lot of loose leashes around here on this team that we need to get rid of and just find a group of people that’s going to really come together as a team and lock in and put their life on the line to win a game here,” said Fairweather.

However, as important as it is for Auburn’s players to recognize the disconnect and map out plans to resolve it, in the grand scheme of things, the fix starts with Freeze.

The good news is he knows that.

“I don’t need anyone to tell me when we don’t measure up. That starts with me.” Freeze said to open his press conference Saturday night. “To not perform any better in games this year like this, I promise you that — I don’t need someone to tell me I didn’t get it done.”

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Cohen: Auburn has QB questions again. Will an elite incoming WR class solve them?

Published: Dec. 31, 2023, 6:05 a.m.

7–9 minutes

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The future waited about 700 miles away.

That future may not have known what was transpiring at Nissan Stadium on an overcast Saturday afternoon in Nashville, Tennessee. It may not have seen another point in why it may be so crucial. In the present, that future just was trying to get ready for another showcase game.

On a practice field at the ESPN Wide World of Sports near Orlando, Florida, were 5-star Auburn signees Cam Coleman and Perry Thompson. The two wide receivers were practicing for the Under Armour high school All-America game to be played this week.

On a football field at Nissan Stadium, a depleted and deficient group of Auburn pass catchers reminded the 700-mile-away future of why they picked Auburn in the first place. They are needed.

As the overcast turned to night and busses loaded with stunned and saddened Auburn players following a 31-13 Music City Bowl loss to Maryland, it would be hard for head coach Hugh Freeze not to turn his mind right toward 2024, right toward the future, right toward Coleman and Thompson and all that can’t arrive soon enough.

Right toward the gamble he’s now had to backtrack on.

Throughout the cold day, Freeze seemed to roam the sidelines with a look of helpless frustration. Long before Auburn sputtered out in its final game of the season to finish the year with a losing 6-7 record, Freeze had appeared to mentally turn the page toward the 2024 roster, essentially opening admitting his 2023 team — while inches away from multiple top-10 wins — wasn’t good enough.

He sat at a postgame interview table alongside tight end Rivaldo Fairweather. Fairweather had set an Auburn record on this day for receptions by a tight end in a single season. But the stunned, introspective look on his face wouldn’t show it. For what he’d done — catching five of seven tough, contested targets for 45 yards — wasn’t enough on its own.

After four wide receivers and one tight end from an already struggling group of pass catchers entered the transfer portal, Auburn found itself even thinner at its weakest position.

It meant for some old-school formations in the Auburn offense including Fairweather lined up as an outside receiver. Fellow tight ends Brandon Frazier and Micah Riley were used in multiple positions, too.

Yet when Auburn was forced to throw with a large deficit against Maryland, quarterback Payton Thorne hardly found a tight end, running back or wide receiver with any separation. A deep ball in the first half to wide receiver Camden Brown which was nearly intercepted because Brown essentially did not make a play on the ball was emblematic of the stagnant play of the wide receiver corps all season.

Thorne threw for 84 yards on 13 completions.

Freeze has been aware of the clear weakness in Auburn’s passing game which ranks among the 10 worst in the nation. He has not been shy to suggest Auburn’s solution for the position is not on this roster. So he pursued wide receivers with added emphasis at the high school level.

Auburn inked Coleman and Thompson as well as four-star receivers Malcolm Simmons and Bryce Cain during December’s early signing period. It added transfer wide receiver Robert Lewis from Georgia State and Cal quarterback-turned-wide receiver Sam Jackson V.

“The receiving corps coming in we were absolutely banking on them helping us and making us better and more diverse so we can do more things, but also we have to play around every position, and I didn’t think we protected well in the first half, didn’t think we ran the ball well in the first half, either, so it’s all of it,” Freeze said Saturday.

Yet it leaves Freeze with a question he’ll have to hope he’s right about: is that alone going to be enough to fix a flawed offense?

Freeze has already laid out his hand with statements between Auburn’s Iron Bowl and Music City Bowl losses. His logic centers on that if he can surround Thorne with enough high-end receiving talent — similar to what he had on a 2021 Michigan State team that won the Peach Bowl — then Thorne can be a successful quarterback.

So knowing the receivers he was about to add in Auburn’s 2024 signing class, Freeze gave Thorne his vote of confidence as the quarterback for next year as the team opened bowl practices.

“If I’m wrong, I’m wrong, but that’s my belief,” Freeze said.

Yet two weeks later, that message has quickly changed.

“I’m constantly evaluating players, staff, everything, and if we see that my evaluation has been wrong, then we have to change gears and reevaluate to make us better, then that’s the steps we should make,” Freeze said after the Music City Bowl loss.

It’s a poignant statement and change of heart from Freeze. It strikes as a realization that the issues his offense faces going into next season won’t be solved alone by wide receivers that, on paper, are more talented than what Auburn currently has.

After the Music City Bowl, Freeze said that his top quarterback position is “wide open” going into next season.

While Thorne hardly received any help from his pass catchers, he did not help himself either. His lone interception was a poor read where he entirely failed to see Maryland defensive back Glen Miller. Miller picked off the pass and returned it for a touchdown. Thorne threw a second interception, but it was called back because of a penalty.

It wasn’t the first time a significant mistake on a read from Thorne led to a costly interception.

It wasn’t even the first time in Nashville this season that happened to Thorne. He had a very similar interception in Auburn’s win against Vanderbilt.

Adding four — and potentially five if Auburn can flip five-star Saraland wide receiver Ryan Williams from his Alabama commitment — elite high school talents doesn’t fix that problem.

“I believe that if we get the right pieces around (Thorne) and Holden and Hank, I think our quarterback room is going to be fine next year,” Freeze said at the beginning of bowl practices. “That is my belief. It’s what drives me to get the right pieces around them.”

Freeze has tied himself to this belief. For the style in which he’s trying to build Auburn, he has to be right.

But he also now seems to have stepped back to review his thoughts. Implicitly, it may be why he re-opened his quarterback competition. His gamble on a step forward from Thorne may not be simple.

Whether that means a change at quarterback or a change in his surrounding pieces — whether that be staff or players — Freeze now plans to evaluate.

He will evaluate the roles of Holden Geriner and Hank Brown behind Thorne. He will evaluate four-star quarterback signee Walker White. He will evaluate offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery. It’s unclear if that evaluation may stray further into the transfer portal.

On paper, the pieces around the quarterback — when that future makes its way to Auburn to join an already loaded running back room and the most prolific receiving tight end in Auburn’s history — are going to be better in 2024.

Will that mean anything if the man throwing the ball isn’t getting the job done?

Before the Music City Bowl, Freeze thought he had his answer at quarterback. Instead, his gamble has a new layer.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com

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'In football, that can't happen': Inside Auburn's first-quarter collapse vs. Maryland

Updated: Dec. 30, 2023, 7:09 p.m.|Published: Dec. 30, 2023, 6:50 p.m.

5–6 minutes

Auburn Football

‘Everything just kinda snowballed’: Inside Auburn’s first-quarter collapse vs. Maryland

NASHVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 30 - Auburn Linebacker Austin Keys (6) during the TransPerfect Music City Bowl game between the Auburn Tigers and the Maryland Terrapins at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, TN on Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023. Photo by Zach Bland/Auburn TigersZach Bland/Auburn Tigers

As the designated away team, Auburn made the call at the pregame coin toss.

The call was tails, and tails it was. After winning the toss, Auburn elected to defer to the second half, meaning the Tigers would boot the opening kickoff away and give the ball to the Maryland’s offense to start the game.

And considering the Terrapins’ offense was set to feature a new starting quarterback for the first time this season after Tualia Tagovailoa opted out of Saturday’s TransPerfect Music City Bowl, giving Maryland the first possession didn’t feel like a major risk as one would’ve expect Billy Edwards Jr. to need a bit to settle into his first start of the season.

Instead, the Maryland offense drove 75 yards down the field and scored on just five plays.

The Terrapins’ scoring drive was set up by a 61-yard chunk play – a quick screen pass from Edwards to Maryland running back Roman Hemby, who found a massive stretch of open, green turf after making Auburn’s first defender miss.

Maryland would find the end zone on the very next play as Edwards plunged in for a rushing touchdown from two yards out.

“They hit us in a big screen on the first drive and everything just kinda snowballed,” Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said after the game.

And “snowballed” might’ve been putting it nicely as it felt like Maryland instead caused a first-quarter avalanche as the Terrapins piled 21 unanswered points on the Tigers en route to Maryland’s 31-13 Music City Bowl win.

After Auburn’s defense suffered a gut punch on the first drive of the game, the Tigers looked to their offense to answer the call.

Instead, Payton Thorne and Co. couldn’t find the phone, much less pick it up.

The Tigers’ offense went three-and-out in their first two drives of the game. Auburn narrowly avoided a third three-and-out drive thanks to Oscar Chapman successfully executing a fake punt from inside the Tigers’ own 15-yard line.

However, that gamble wouldn’t get the Tigers very far as Thorne and the Auburn offense eventually turned the ball over on downs, ending a 14-play, 42-yard drive that stalled near midfield.

“I mean, they had that big play on offense, and we came out and went three-and-out at least twice in a row,” Thorne added. “We didn’t help our defense at all, and that’s on us.”

Coming into Saturday’s matchup with the Terrapins, it was no secret the Tigers were going to be thin on defense – especially in the secondary as veteran defensive backs DJ James and Nehemiah Pritchett both opted out of the bowl game as they turned their attention to the 2024 NFL Draft. Jaylin Simpson was also absent from Saturday’s game, though it’s unclear if he opted out or was still nursing his nagging hamstring injury.

Knowing Auburn’s situation in the secondary, Maryland head coach Mike Locksley made it a point to test Auburn’s young defensive backfield, while also challenging his pair of young and inexperienced quarterbacks.

It was a decision that paid off as Edwards and Maryland’s freshman quarterback Cameron Edge shredded Auburn’s defense in the first quarter as they combined for 158 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns through the air.

“I was real surprised,” Freeze said of Auburn’s early defensive struggles. “I know we were playing some young kids, but really thought we would start faster and catch up with these guys.”

Eventually, Auburn’s defense settled in.

Come the second half, Auburn held Maryland’s offense to just 41 total yards and just 1.7 yards per play.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, however, “eventually” didn’t come until the second half. And at that point, the damage had been done as Auburn trailed Maryland 24-7.

“We have to wake up and understand we have to be ready to play a football game,” said Auburn lineback Eugene Asante. “Regardless of the circumstances, we have to go out there and execute. I pride myself on being a guy that gets guys going, and I think I needed to do that more today and I didn’t do it early on. That’s on me. I can’t be flat. We were flat. I think guys got off the bus sluggish and we adjusted in the second half, but in football, that can’t happen.”

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Everything Hugh Freeze said after Auburn’s 31-13 Music City Bowl loss to Maryland

Published: Dec. 30, 2023, 7:24 p.m.

7–9 minutes

OPENING STATEMENT: I don’t need anyone to tell me when we don’t measure up. That starts with me. I feel so awful for our incredible fans. It was incredible to see them, their support for us, and to not perform any better in games this year like this. I promise you that -- I don’t need someone to tell me I didn’t get it done. I think our staff and our young men, starting with our staff, starting with me, have got to create a standard of the way we consistently work, consistently compete, and figure out how to be a true team. That is my goal in 2024, and I’ll need these two to help me and the staff to help me, but it’s disappointing today for our incredible fans and our support from our administration that we didn’t perform any better. Congrats to Coach Locksley. They came prepared and certainly outplayed us.

ON THE QUARTERBACK SITUATION AFTER THE LOSS: It’s wide open. I think Hank has something to him for sure. The guy threw 42 touchdowns, one pick his senior year in high school. There’s something to that. I’m constantly evaluating players, staff, everything, and if we see that my evaluation has been wrong, then we have to change gears and reevaluate to make us better, then that’s the steps we should make. That position should be an interesting one certainly in spring practice.

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF AUBURN’S INCOMING CLASS OF WIDE RECEIVERS: Well, I love our wide receiver class. I think it’s one of the best in the country that we signed, and certainly that’s a place we need some depth and some added playmaking ability. So congratulations to Rivaldo (Fairweather) on that. Yes, the receiving corps coming in we were absolutely banking on them helping us and making us better and more diverse so we can do more things, but also we have to play around every position, and I didn’t think we protected well in the first half, didn’t think we ran the ball well in the first half, either, so it’s all of it. Defensively we played really well defensively the second half, but it goes back to that standard. It’s not okay just to play really well and you do your assignment for a half. But we are excited about the wide receivers coming in for sure.

ON HANK BROWN’S SHOWING UNDER CENTER: Hank has incredible poise. I saw it every day when he was running the scout team, and he has very little protection and he stands in there and makes throw after throw after throw. I think he has incredible poise for a freshman for sure. He has great humility. Wants to be taught. Wants to learn. Has a good IQ for the game. Understands timing. Even the last throw that I thought the receivers should have kept coming, that’s kind of what Hank anticipated, but he anticipates throws really well, and he’s got great poise for a freshman.

ON THE BIGGEST DISCONNECT IN THE LOCKER ROOM: don’t know that this is just a case for Auburn, but it’s certainly something that we are battling some. It’s just the disease of me. I think that’s in a lot of areas of life now, and we’re not exempt to it in our locker room. I think we’ve got to face it head on. It’s not everybody for sure, but there’s just a lot of things that I’m hopeful that can be a part of the Auburn football program that, man, we really do care, love, trust one another to put the team first. I think those are the ones who are going to excel in building sustainable programs that compete at a high level. We’re not the only ones to have to battle that, and you see some that are battling it pretty effectively. We’ve got to -- particularly when you’re disappointed and you’re not in the playoffs or you’re not in -- what do you do then? I think it’s those challenges that make football the best training ground there is for life, and there’s a lot of lessons that we need to learn for sure.

ON AUBURN’S OFFENSIVE GAME PLAN COMING INTO SATURDAY: Well, obviously I don’t feel like it was an effective one. I didn’t get too involved in it for most of the part until this week because of recruiting, and really wanted to kind of evaluate everything about our program. We didn’t run the ball. It starts there. We have to go look at the run schemes that we had, and did we not play hard up front? It’s really hard for me to tell. But they really dominated the line of scrimmage against us. They did load the box now. They forced us to -- they had extra hats in the box for sure, and that’s when you’ve got to be able to throw it some. But we didn’t protect the passer real well. It wasn’t all the O-line. Sometimes the backs didn’t get the protection right. But anytime you struggle like we did, it’s not -- I don’t feel like the plan was great.

ON AUBURN’S FIRST QUARTER COLLAPSE: Yeah, I was real surprised. Really thought defensively we had -- I know we were playing some young kids, but really thought we would start faster and could catch up with these guys. They hit us in a big screen on the first drive, and everything just kind of snowballed. But we had a ton of misalignments and miscommunications right in the early part of the game that really cost us. We’ve got to look at ourselves as coaches first to see why we weren’t more effective in getting those things communicated with our kids.

ON WHAT HE WOULD’VE DONE DIFFERENT IN YEAR 1: Well, every game is different. If you go look at the Georgia game, I wish we would have protected better because we had some shots. If you go to the Ole Miss game, I wish we would have gone more tempo. If you go to the Alabama game, I wish we’d have been able to punch better and I wish we’d have taught 4th and 31 defense better. But ultimately you have to look at yourself as coaches. Our kids are going to make some mistakes sometimes, but in those critical moments, are our kids coached well enough to get it done, and when we don’t get it done, you have to look at -- I have to look at myself. Every game is different as to what you would have done differently, but you certainly don’t enjoy having to say that or feel that, but that’s the way I feel right now. We’re going to improve the roster and all of that, but we still could have gotten more out of this season, I believe, for our young men and our wonderful fans.

ON HIS BIGGEST TAKEAWAY FROM SEASON 1: We’re incredibly blessed to be at Auburn, incredibly blessed by our administration and fans, and it hurts like heck to let them now and not compete on given days. But my takeaway is that I’m still as confident as ever that this can be an elite football program again, and it takes great recruiting, but it also takes player-led teams that put team first and the standard of the team every single day first. We’re still learning that, and we’ve got to demand it as coaches, and we can’t waver from it when we get back in January, and I’m looking forward to the leadership of our team doing that.

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Reports | Texas A&M expected to hire Auburn defensive secondary coach Wesley McGriff

Published: Dec. 31, 2023, 11:02 a.m.

~2 minutes

After one season back at Auburn, the Tigers’ secondary and cornerbacks’ coach Wesley McGriff is expected to leave The Plains and head west, joining Mike Elko’s assembling staff at Texas A&M, Billy Liucci of TexasAgs.com reported Sunday morning.

McGriff joined Hugh Freeze’s staff at Auburn on Dec. 23, 2022, making for his third stint at Auburn. McGriff previously coached the Tigers in 2016 and again in 2019-20.

Midway through the 2023 season, McGriff transitioned from his on-field coaching duties to take a role off the field. Freeze told reporters in October the change was the result of McGriff “dealing with a personal issue,” but confirmed McGriff was still with the program and was helping with locker room culture and in-house recruiting.

The expected departure of McGriff comes on the heels of Saturday’s news that Auburn is expected to add Charles Kelly to its defensive staff. The addition of Kelly, who graduated from Auburn in 1990, would come after he spent one season with Deion Sanders as Colorado’s defensive coordinator.

Should Sunday’s reports prove true, McGriff would be adding a new stop to an already lengthy list.

Prior to joining Freeze’s staff a year ago, McGriff was Louisville’s defensive secondary coach in for the 2022 season. McGriff has also held jobs at Kentucky, Baylor, Miami, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss and Florida, among others.

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32 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

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Hugh Freeze says the 'disease of me' plagues Auburn's locker room. What does he mean?

Updated: Dec. 31, 2023, 10:03 a.m.|Published: Dec. 31, 2023, 9:49 a.m.

5–6 minutes

---

In New York City, the ball will drop in Times Square late Sunday night.

In Nashville, where Hugh Freeze and the Auburn football team have spent the last week as they prepped for and played in the TransPerfect Music City Bowl, the city will ring in the New Year with a “music note drop” at Bicentennial Park.

But after Saturday’s ugly, 31-13 loss to the Maryland Terrapins to put a bookend on the 2023 season, the chances of Freeze and the Tigers sticking around to celebrate the New Year are slim.

After all, Freeze revealed his New Year’s resolution Saturday night. And considering the depth to it, it’s probably best he get started working on it as soon as possible.

“I think our staff and our young men, starting with our staff, starting with me, have got to create a standard of the way we consistently work, consistently compete and figure our how to be a true team,” Freeze said. “That is my goal in 2024.”

Saturday’s comments from Freeze weren’t the first of the season in that vein.

“The culture has gotten better. The standard has gotten better. The accountability has gotten better,” Freeze said in a press conference on Nov. 27 – two days after Auburn’s regular season finale against Alabama. “I’m hopeful I can continue to build the community aspect of what a team really is.”

In that same answer, Freeze mentioned things like living in an era that means “dating through Snapchat” and how he wishes players would “hang up the headsets” and instead of playing video games after practice, go have real conversations with one another.

It’s crystal-clear Auburn’s locker room isn’t a tight-knit and connected as Freeze would like.

After Saturday’s loss to Maryland, when asked about the team’s disconnect, Freeze chalked it up to a disease he believes is plaguing society.

“It’s just the disease of me. I think that’s in a lot of areas of life now and we’re not exempt to it in our locker room,” Freeze said. “I think we’ve got to face it head on.”

In the words of author and legendary NBA head coach Pat Riley, the “disease of me” is the diagnosis for those who put “personal agendas before organizational success.”

And that’s what Freeze believes is plaguing Auburn’s locker room.

In talking with some of Auburn’s players, they tend to agree with their head coach.

“Completely agree with coach,” Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne said following Saturday’s postseason loss when asked about player-led leadership. “We did not have enough of that this year by any means. It showed.”

Thorne added he was looking forward to getting “the guys who need to be there” together. And even if it takes five hours, them sitting down and deciding what they need to be and what they want their future to look like.

“We have to decide what we want. And when we decide what we want, we’re going to write it down and then we have a template to hold each other accountable to,” Thorne said. “That will be something that will be happening soon.”

Meanwhile, linebacker Eugene Asante is looking forward to establishing the standard during winter workouts.

“It 100% starts with winter workouts,” Asante said. “Because you’re putting your body in a condition to where it’s hard, you don’t want to do it, your body’s worn down -- but that’s when the mental game kicks in. Instead of them leaning on quitting or just tapping out, it’s allowing them to push themselves beyond their limits. And that’s what shows up on the football field.”

For freshman defensive end Keldric Faulk, setting the standard starts with the intricate and often-overlooked things like arriving to team meetings on time and looking coaches in the eyes when they’re speaking to you.

“The standard starts in meetings,” Faulk said. “It’s little stuff like that.”

Whether establishing the standard starts with a five-hour meeting, winter workouts or making eye contact with coaches, it’s evident it’s something that needs attention.

And nothing anyone said pointed to that more than a quip from tight end Rivaldo Fairweather.

“Coach Freeze said, ‘We’re going to set a standard here’ and it’s a lot of loose leashes around here on this team that we need to get rid of and just find a group of people that’s going to really come together as a team and lock in and put their life on the line to win a game here,” said Fairweather.

However, as important as it is for Auburn’s players to recognize the disconnect and map out plans to resolve it, in the grand scheme of things, the fix starts with Freeze.

The good news is he knows that.

“I don’t need anyone to tell me when we don’t measure up. That starts with me.” Freeze said to open his press conference Saturday night. “To not perform any better in games this year like this, I promise you that — I don’t need someone to tell me I didn’t get it done.”

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Explains a lot.

Been playing with fractured locker room, too.

[aubiefifty 16,791]

5 minutes ago, AUGoo said:

Explains a lot.

Been playing with fractured locker room, too.

i sometimes wonder if it is worth the stress for that kind of money mr goo. i just could not handle the stress.

[AUGoo 2,664]

2 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

 

Protection looked pretty good on most of these attempts.

Didn't see any real drops.

Didn't see any real fight in the WRs either.

Combo of crappy play calling, crappy decision making, and crappy execution.

Overall crappy day.  Enough blame to go around i guess.
 

Edited December 31, 2023 by AUGoo

[gctiger 931]

I knew that NIL in its current form combined with the portal would cause issues such as the Disease of Me.  When I expressed my concerns, I was blasted by a few of the younger members on this forum and called an old white man.  Well, it looks like this old white man may know what he’s talking about after all!  The days of NCAA amateur athletics is gone forever   

IMO if NIL is modified and administered in a more equitable manner with caps, it would likely result in the portal no longer appearing like the wild, wild, west.  Opt out is bad enough, but the current scenario makes roster management a nightmare.  

[AUGoo 2,664]

36 minutes ago, gctiger said:

I knew that NIL in its current form combined with the portal would cause issues such as the Disease of Me.  When I expressed my concerns, I was blasted by a few of the younger members on this forum and called an old white man.  Well, it looks like this old white man may know what he’s talking about after all!  The days of NCAA amateur athletics is gone forever   

IMO if NIL is modified and administered in a more equitable manner with caps, it would likely result in the portal no longer appearing like the wild, wild, west.  Opt out is bad enough, but the current scenario makes roster management a nightmare.  

Agree. 

Now you are not only recruiting the high schools, buy your own locker room and everyone else's locker room.

The Staffs are going to continue to be enormous and ever growing.