Takeaway's from Hugh Freeze's press conference heading into matchup vs Samford

Coach Freeze discussed the receivers and quarterback room with the media on Monday morning.

Author:
Joshua Collins
Publish date:
Sep 11, 2023 8:28 PM EDT

In this story:

Week three of the 2023 college football season is upon us, and Coach Hugh Freeze held his weekly press conference this Monday morning.

Several points were addressed regarding the offensive performance last Saturday night against the Cal Golden Bears and what the Auburn Tigers need to improve on heading into their matchup against the Samford Bulldogs.

Coach Freeze continued with his candid approach to the media as he spoke on the offensive performance highlighting what went well and what went wrong against the Cal Golden Bears.

Freeze spoke on the overall performance of the offense calling it “an ugly performance.” Freeze continued with touching on having accountability for the play saying that “We have to own what’s on the film.” Payton Thorne’s play at quarterback was obviously lackluster and needs improvement going into SEC play in two weeks.

"We need Payton to play better,” Freeze said. Despite agreeing that the offense can't flow jerking quarterbacks in and out during different drives, Freeze was adamant that “Robby has got to get his touches.” The offense pounded the ball on the ground the majority of the game against Cal and Coach Freeze commented on this as well. Freeze commented that, “probably should have called more shots down field.”

Freeze also had some criticism on the receiver play. "Gotta improve on winning the 1 on 1 matchups,” he commented.

Coach Freeze highlighted receivers Ja’Varrius Johnson and Jay Fair saying that “they have got to get them more touches.” However, Freeze did express that that would not entail playing either in the outside position group. Freeze said that he "doesn’t feel that either of them are built to play outside.”

Coach Freeze admitted that it was a "totally different game then what was expected.” This realization likely threw some wrinkles into the offensive game plan and likely effected the players on the field.

Based upon the improvements that were evident with the defensive play from week 1 to week 2, we can likely expect to see some improvements with the offense during the upcoming matchup against the Samford Bulldogs.

Be sure to tune in on Saturday at 6:00pm C.T. to catch your Auburn Tigers take on the Samford Bulldogs at Jordan-Hare.