Auburn head football coach Hugh Freeze at the Auburn mens basketball home game against Arkansas, Jan. 7.
BY WIL CREWS
SPORTSCREWS@OPELIKAOBSERVER.COM
AUBURN —
Following the conclusion of early National Signing Day on Dec. 21, 2022, it appears first-year Auburn head football coach Hugh Freeze and his staff have taken little to no rest.
Freeze would have been forgiven had he done so, with the holiday season providing a much-needed respite for many Americans. However, Freeze and his staff have shown in the weeks since that their vision for Auburn football is far greater than one that can be compartmentalized into “days off and days on.”
The Tigers wrapped up early National Signing Day with the No. 19-ranked class nationally, according to 247 Sports composite rankings — a steep improvement from where the class sat just months before under then-head coach Bryan Harsin.
In total, Auburn inked commitments from 16 freshmen, two junior college players and two transfers from other schools on early National Signing Day. However, with the Tigers’ current roster construction, much work still needed to be done in order to quickly return to the top of the SEC.
So, Freeze and his staff turned their attention to the transfer portal.
Beginning with the early National Signing Day additions of Vanderbilt edge rusher Elijah McCallister (65 career tackles, 6.5 for loss and 2.5 sacks) and Florida International tight end Rivaldo Fairweather (the No. 1-ranked transfer tight end), Freeze and his staff have now earned commitments from seven transfer players.
Most notably, Freeze and company earned commitments from three offensive linemen, Tulsa’s Dillon Wade (the No. 2-ranked offensive tackle in the transfer portal), and Western Kentucky’s Gunner Britton (the No. 5-ranked offensive tackle in the transfer portal) and East Carolina center Avery Jones.
Wade, a 6-foot-4-inch, 290-pound junior, played 16 games over the past two seasons for Tulsa. Britton, a 6-foot-6-inch, 275-pounder, started in all 14 games for WKU last season and comes to The Plains with one remaining year of eligibility. Jones, the No. 3 interior offensive lineman in the 247Sports transfer portal player rankings was the No. 8 pass blocking center amoung Group of Five centers last season according to PFF.
Including the four incoming freshmen linemen (the most Auburn has signed from high school since 2015) and the signing of top junior college offensive tackle Izavion Miller, the additions of Wade, Britton and Jones raises the number of Auburn 2023 offensive line commits to eight. That’s the most by the program since the 2012 recruiting class.
Moreover, the position of offensive line is not the only area that Freeze and his staff have addressed in the transfer portal. Maryland defensive lineman Mosiah-Nasil Kite, Purdue defensive lineman Lawrence Johnson and LSU linebacker Demario Toolen, Cincinnatti receiver Nick Mardner and South Florida running back Brian Battie. have all signed up for the Tigers in the past week.
Kite, a 2022 All-Big Ten preseason nominee, recorded 81 tackles in his three-year stint with the Terrapins, including 26 stops and one sack in 2022. Johnson is heading into his sixth year of collegiate football and has 88 tackles, two-and-a half sacks and seven-and-a half tackles for loss for his career. Toolen, a former four-star recruit, played a limited role in his freshman season for LSU last year. Mardner is a 6-foot-6-inch senior who finished 2022 with 19 catches for 218 yards and three touchdowns. Battie ran for 1,186 yards and eight touchdowns last season with USF.
If the upcoming 2023 football season was looked at as a concert, the Tigers are approaching the time for the opening act. The early National Signing Day period was the commute there. For a concert, the commute means everyone is happy-go-lucky, singing songs they think they might hear the artist perform at the venue in the near future. For a college football program (especially one that wants to compete on a national level), the feeling is similar. Everyone is wide-eyed and optimistic; the program is signing highly-coveted players and looking toward the future.
Then, for football, the spring period is like the opening act. It’s all good vibes and concert-goers are picking up on some new songs they like or just speculating about the main card’s act. While not technically all the way in spring yet (Auburn usually begins practice in early March), the Tigers have early-enrolled a number of players from the 2023 class, and are there right now. Fans and reporters alike are seeing the program pick up new players from the transfer portal, and learning about new contributors who can theoretically return Auburn football to a place of national relevance.
In this theory, the 2023 Auburn football season is the final act itself. The biggest, greatest spectacle of them all. The reason worth the price of admission.
But therein lies the problem. Auburn’s 2023 football season is anything but a guaranteed “biggest and greatest spectacle.” The state of the program left behind by Harsin is well below typical standard on The Plains, and the script may not turn out as planned, as Freeze and his staff will need time and patience to rebuild the Tigers. But, regardless of if the final act falls flat, everyone should enjoy the “commute” and “opener” as it pertains to Auburn football. The progress made by Freeze and company is undeniable and sets the Tigers up for a Coachella-level moment in the future.