3.12.24 Football Articles

[aubiefifty 16,807]

 

Edited March 12 by aubiefifty

[aubiefifty 16,807]

 

[aubiefifty 16,807]

 

[aubiefifty 16,807]

 

[aubiefifty 16,807]

 

[aubiefifty 16,807]

 

[aubiefifty 16,807]

al.com

How is Hugh Freeze trying to cure the ‘disease of me’ in Auburn’s locker room?

Published: Mar. 12, 2024, 6:28 a.m.

6–8 minutes

The diagnosis came on a cold December evening in a room tucked away somewhere in the depths of Nashville’s Nissan Stadium.

In front of an SEC- and Big 10-branded backdrop, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze sat at the center of a table — arms crossed — flanked by tight end Rivaldo Fairweather and linebacker Austin Keys and was tasked with trying to explain what in the world had just happened.

These Players Overcame HORRIBLE Disabilities

In the hours leading up to the somber conversation, signs of what had been plaguing the Auburn football team all season were put on display for all to see as Freeze and the Tigers were beat wire-to-wire by the Maryland Terrapins in the TransPerfect Music City Bowl.

“I don’t need anyone to tell me when we don’t measure up,” Freeze said to open his press conference following Auburn’s 31-13 loss.

Freeze continued.

“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,” Freeze said. “That is my goal in 2024.”

Throughout the 2023 season, there were consistent undertones that suggested Auburn’s locker room wasn’t as connected as Freeze would like it to be.

And on that chilly Nashville evening, Freeze issued his official diagnosis. He called it the “disease of me.”

“I don’t know that this is just a case for Auburn, but it’s certainly something that we’re battling now. It’s just the disease of me,” Freeze explained. “I think that’s in a lot of areas of life now. And we’re not exempt to it in our locker room.”

In his book “The Winner Within: A Life Plan for Team Players,” former NBA head coach Pat Riley diagnoses those who “put their personal agendas before organizational success” with the disease of me.

That’s what Freeze believed to be ailing the Auburn locker room in 2023.

“I think we’ve got to face it head on,” Freeze said, indicating that he’d be taking an aggressive approach to curing the disease.

And with spring football, which got underway Feb. 27, currently in full swing on The Plains, so is the treatment plan.

To quickly attack the disease, Freeze went to its origin. He went to the locker room.

“There’s been a lot of positive things in our building since January,” Freeze said on Feb. 29. “Many of those are coming from the player-led arena, which I love. I really think player-led teams are the best teams.”

Heading into the spring, Freeze employed the help of a 12-player culture council to help set the standard.

Council members were elected by the team with guys like quarterback Payton Thorne, running backs Jarquez Hunter and Damari Alston, tight end Luke Deal, linebacker Eugene Asante, defensive lineman Keldric Faulk and defensive back Keionte Scott all making the cut.

Together, Auburn’s culture council laid out the the team’s expectations in a presentation back in January.

Those expectations range from things such as maintaining a clean locker room to the way the team approaches their work both on the field and in the classroom.

“It was accepted by all,” Freeze said. “Once it’s accepted, then we have to be accountable to that standard.”

Fairweather, who was one of the players sitting next to Freeze during the postgame press conference in Nashville, has already started to see it all take effect.

“It just feel like it’s a different culture in here now,” Fairweather said on Feb. 29 in a comment that was in stark contrast of what he said following Auburn’s loss to Maryland in December.

Immediately following the Tigers’ loss in the Music City Bowl, Fairweather told reporters there were “a lot of loose leashes around here on this team that we need to get rid of.”

But that was then.

And this is now.

“From Day 1 we just set that forth and we had some leaders taking care of the accountability and stuff,” Fairweather said of the current structure. “When you’re not supposed to be doing stuff that you’re doing, you get punished for it. That makes everybody lock in and not try to mess around.”

What are those punishments exactly?

Well, Fairweather was reluctant disclose too much and instead decided to keep it “classified.” But he assured reporters it’s “real stuff that you wouldn’t want to do.”

Meanwhile, sixth-year senior tight end Luke Deal confirmed that one of the punishments was running stadiums — though he doesn’t like to call it a punishment.

“I mean, we don’t think of it very much as a punishment,” Deal said. “We call it an enrichment, which is we’re being enriched, so just trying to make each other better. That’s all it is.”

But regardless of what exactly the punishments are or what exactly they’re called, what matters is that it all seems to be working and treating the problem at hand — treating the disease of me.

When asked about the biggest difference he’s seen from last spring to this spring, Freeze didn’t bat an eye before he spouted the word “accountability.”

“No question,” Freeze continued.

“It seemed that we were just way too casual about our approach and a lot of things, to me, and that’s an indication of staff, players, all of us,” Freeze said. “I think the kids sensed it, I think we sensed it, and it was part of our meetings in January that we can’t take that approach.”

And that casual approach is likely what led to Auburn’s locker room being diseased to begin with.

Ironically, Freeze says the team’s word for spring camp is “casual” — except it’s presented with a big ‘X’ over top of it.

“There’s a different energy that comes with that, and to know that there’s no compromise,” Freeze said. “We hold each other accountable, and if you’re one of the ones being held accountable and you don’t like it, that’s part of life. Because we agreed this was the standard.”

And it’s that new standard that Freeze is hoping will cure Auburn of the “disease of me.”

So far, a little more than two months removed from the diagnosis, the treatment plan seems to be working.

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

[aubiefifty 16,807]

back later i have a dr's appointment.

[aubiefifty 16,807]

 

[aubiefifty 16,807]

 

[aubiefifty 16,807]

 

[aubiefifty 16,807]

 

[aubiefifty 16,807]

 

[aubiefifty 16,807]

 

[aubiefifty 16,807]

 

[aubiefifty 16,807]

 

[aubiefifty 16,807]

 

[aubiefifty 16,807]

 

[aubiefifty 16,807]