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Auburn Tigers quarterback Hank Brown (15) throws the balll during the A-Day spring game at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala., on Saturday, April 6, 2024.
“Every Rose Has Its Thorne.”
The 1988 song by Poison still rings true in many aspects of life today. Unfortunately for the Auburn Tigers, the sentiment of the metaphor has become much more literal than Hugh Freeze and his coaching staff would have liked. Auburn’s head coach has spent his first year-plus on the Plains recruiting, and bringing in, flashy weapons that inherently should give his offense the ability to blossom in a very competitive SEC.
That has not happened. Much like a rose needs a strong stem to become an ascetically pleasing product, an offense needs a strong quarterback. Payton Thorne has the talent and experience to be the stem that supports players like Cam Coleman, Rivaldo Fairweather, and KeAndre Lambert-Smith but for whatever reason, it has not happened.
Auburn’s “QB1” was given a long leash in 2023. It was the first year for not only him, but for Hugh Freeze and his contingent of transfer portal plug-ins and coaching staff hold overs as well. Freeze is now in year two. Many of the Tigers playing every Saturday were brought in by him, or kept by him. Excuses are running thin.
This football team should not be losing as near-two-touchdown favorites at home in the second game of the season. The talent is there. While fingers can be pointed, small problems can be “duct-taped”, and low expectations can be used to justify poor performance, at some point, Auburn’s football program needs to be moving in an upward trajectory. One can argue it’s been almost five years since the figurative graph describing the Tiger program has pointed skyward.
Hugh Freeze’s recruiting prowess cannot be discarded. Auburn has a top seven class coming to the Loveliest Village…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/brians-column-auburns-program-needs-210050443.html
Author : Auburn Wire
Publish date : 2024-09-13 21:00:50
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