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FOOTBALL Hugh Freeze quick notes (Bama week)

BrianStultz

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Jul 1, 2021
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We are set to speak with Hugh Freeze as Auburn prepares for the 2024 Iron Bowl.

Follow along and refresh for all updates.

*** Wishes everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Will spend his thanksgiving with the team and the families of coaches and players.

*** Thoughts and prayers with the Nix family for losing a great Auburn man. Calls him the Pat Sullivan of that day.

*** What a win on Saturday night. Congratulations to Jarquez and Cam on getting SEC Player of the Week awards. Glad to see our seniors celebrate their last game in Jordan-Hare the way they did. They had to fight for it.

*** Team had to fight, scratch and claw to win a football game against a very good Texas A&M team. Happy for our fans to be able to celebrate in that environment.

*** Will go down in Hugh's mind as a special moment in coaching.

*** Struggled to get off the field on 3rd down. Credit to them and QB Reed for making some good throws.

*** Offensively, we were really good when we were able to win first down.

*** Thought the effort was fantastic. The start was great. Need another effort like this this week. Calls Milroe a remarkable QB.

*** How to game plan around Milroe: "You look at the good. That's what he is capable of. I hope we get the lesser version." Thinks Milroe will be determined to fight back and respond. Confident they will use him as a runner.

*** Not going for 2 in first OT: Says on the road they would have. Says mind was so cluttered he didn't want to make a bad call. It felt rushed. And usually when you make decisions in a rush, they tend not to work out. So consumed to getting to that point that I wasn't ready to make a call at that point.

*** On catch by Dre in real time and see after: "It's a play we have worked on every single Thursday against our defense." Says they have worked it a lot. Believe it or not, KLS has made those catches before. It was a nice throw. It had to be high. "It was heck of a throw and heck of a catch."

*** On message to secondary going into this week: "We've played some really good receivers. A&M's were talented as well as Alabama's." Recruited Ryan Williams really hard and know how talented he is.

*** Creating explosive plays and how to do it against Alabama: We have a knack for having good designs for those. It will be a big part of winning there in Tuscaloosa.

*** On the recruits' reactions: The ones he talked to after the game and yesterday were incredible. It certainly helped their cause showing that this is what Auburn can be again. They had noticed all the close losses but now they can see it can be done against top teams. The best testimony was the locker room. The players continue to fight and continue to stay together. That's the culture that some of these 2025 guys are drawn to.

*** On second Iron Bowl and being through that game and what it means for a coach's legacy at Auburn: "There's no bigger game." Last year's loss still doesn't sit right. Want to change the feeling in this building.

*** On playing freshmen and how much they have grown up: "Enormous." I see improvement every week. Starts mentioning some guys. They are talented and good but starting to realize how to play the game.

*** Mentions not being on the road every single day with the earlier signing day is great.

*** On belief going into Tuscaloosa and winning; "You have a zero percent chance of winning if you don't go in believing you can do it."

*** Question about Nick Saban. Next!

*** Mentions most of his conversations with Payton Thorne has been about the mental toughness he and Payton have been through. "He could have went in quite a few directions." Credit to his demeanor and his toughness.

*** On Kane Womack and his relationship with him: Mentions Kane's dad was his first defensive coordinator. And his dad's daughter is married to Auburn's strength coach.

*** "Big, athletic and strong. Probably longer at linebacker than A&M."

*** On Oscar's struggles on Saturday: "That's the first time he's done something like that." Expects him to bounce back well. Mentions Ian had ice in his veins when it mattered.

That's it for Hugh. Have a great Monday!
 
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