I'm here to speak with Auburn AD John Cohen, football coach Hugh Freeze and basketball coach Bruce Pearl before the LaGrange AMBUSH meeting. Will provide updates below. Click refresh, will continue updating...
BRUCE PEARL
** Nashville crowd was great, great energy. LaGrange is 6th event. It's a lot because me and Hugh are really busy. Summer school started today and we start practice June 1 and the roster is not complete.
** The Auburn family, the way they travel, has been one of the keys to our success.
** Excited to play Indiana on neutral site. They will definitely be a Quad 1 opponent.
** With USC at home, Indiana, looking for a tough home opener -- should be a strong schedule. They all matter. Northwestern was a Quad 1.
** Last vital portal pickup would be a wing/scoring guard. After that would be filling in. Have the opportunity to replace a starter in Allen Flanigan,
** Have a lot of needs in Neville Arena. Crowded in there with us, women's basketball, volleyball and gymnastics. A lot of needs with Woltosz finishing up and baseball getting nice upgrades. Don't want to do Neville until we can do it right.
** Auburn fans have been excited for Hugh Freeze. He's wanted this job or one like it for a ling time. He and his family fit right into the Auburn culture. There's a lot of things in alignment with President, AD, coaches.
** That's all for Bruuuuce.
HUGH FREEZE
** May used to be his favorite month of college coaching. Assistants are on road, kids are done with school. You could schedule some things. Now, there's constant visitors. No need to complain. It is what it is and we've benefited from the portal. We should look at a renewed calendar. It's really tough on our assts. Quality of life for coaches is hectic right now. We've got to manage and deal with it.
** Jyaire Shorter is a deep bal threat. Gives us length and catch radius. Larry Nixon is a tackling machine. An injury history (Shorter) are some of the tough decisions you have to make. We're optimistic he'll be 100 percent.
** Payton Thorne is here in Auburn. The other spring transfers should be here by day after Memorial Day along with the 12 remaining 2023 signees. Two '23 signees still need to qualify. Feel good about one, not sure on other.
** No. 1 thing with Payton Thorne is leadership. Feel like this team was missing some of that. He's tough and will compete. He elevates that room.
** Love Shorter's big play ability. Nixon really competes.
** On transfers: Hugh asks do they improve our roster? He feels confident in saying he's improved Auburns roster. Not sure how much he's been able to close the gap with the SEC's top teams.
** Freeze confirms Payton Thorne officially visited. Kept that one quiet at the time on purpose.
** If current players can't deal with the transfers coming in than they're probably not the right fit. If they feel they're being done wrong, that's not the right attitude. We want to win and build up young men. It's still about competition. There's times I wasn't good enough. Doesn't mean you're defined by that. Your blessed to have the opportunity at whatever school you're at.
** Got another transfer visiting Fri and Sat, one visited today. That's probably it unless a grad transfer decides to jump in.
JOHN COHEN
** Excited to have War Eagle at baseball and experimenting with other possibilities.
** Been working with Butch on baseball facility updates. Want to make a better experience for fans. Have made a couple of adjustments. Will have some things ready for '24 season, some for '25.
** Have had conversations with Under Armour. They've been terrific. Negotiating window closes Sept. 1, 2023. Can speak openly about it after Sept. 1.
** North end zone of Jordan-Hare has come up many times, still in research phase of updating J-H. Many parts need to the updated and improved. A lot of information gathering. Feel like the future is bright with what J-H could look like.
** On basketball facility: Landscape of college sports has changed. The funding for NIL is coming from funds that once went to facilities. NIL has to be a priority and we have to be competitive.
** Baseball has had some pitchers step up, been more accurate. Butch has a track record of pitchers getting better over course of year. Butch and Rock keep encouraging young arms and keep giving them opportunities. Some arms in bullpen don't look anything like they did first half of season and that's coaching. Lineup 1-9 is as good as anybody else in league.
** On softball: When Maddie Penta is on the mound, they can beat anybody.
** Excited for men's golf advancing to NCAA finals.
*****THAT'S ALL FOLKS*****
BRUCE PEARL
** Nashville crowd was great, great energy. LaGrange is 6th event. It's a lot because me and Hugh are really busy. Summer school started today and we start practice June 1 and the roster is not complete.
** The Auburn family, the way they travel, has been one of the keys to our success.
** Excited to play Indiana on neutral site. They will definitely be a Quad 1 opponent.
** With USC at home, Indiana, looking for a tough home opener -- should be a strong schedule. They all matter. Northwestern was a Quad 1.
** Last vital portal pickup would be a wing/scoring guard. After that would be filling in. Have the opportunity to replace a starter in Allen Flanigan,
** Have a lot of needs in Neville Arena. Crowded in there with us, women's basketball, volleyball and gymnastics. A lot of needs with Woltosz finishing up and baseball getting nice upgrades. Don't want to do Neville until we can do it right.
** Auburn fans have been excited for Hugh Freeze. He's wanted this job or one like it for a ling time. He and his family fit right into the Auburn culture. There's a lot of things in alignment with President, AD, coaches.
** That's all for Bruuuuce.
HUGH FREEZE
** May used to be his favorite month of college coaching. Assistants are on road, kids are done with school. You could schedule some things. Now, there's constant visitors. No need to complain. It is what it is and we've benefited from the portal. We should look at a renewed calendar. It's really tough on our assts. Quality of life for coaches is hectic right now. We've got to manage and deal with it.
** Jyaire Shorter is a deep bal threat. Gives us length and catch radius. Larry Nixon is a tackling machine. An injury history (Shorter) are some of the tough decisions you have to make. We're optimistic he'll be 100 percent.
** Payton Thorne is here in Auburn. The other spring transfers should be here by day after Memorial Day along with the 12 remaining 2023 signees. Two '23 signees still need to qualify. Feel good about one, not sure on other.
** No. 1 thing with Payton Thorne is leadership. Feel like this team was missing some of that. He's tough and will compete. He elevates that room.
** Love Shorter's big play ability. Nixon really competes.
** On transfers: Hugh asks do they improve our roster? He feels confident in saying he's improved Auburns roster. Not sure how much he's been able to close the gap with the SEC's top teams.
** Freeze confirms Payton Thorne officially visited. Kept that one quiet at the time on purpose.
** If current players can't deal with the transfers coming in than they're probably not the right fit. If they feel they're being done wrong, that's not the right attitude. We want to win and build up young men. It's still about competition. There's times I wasn't good enough. Doesn't mean you're defined by that. Your blessed to have the opportunity at whatever school you're at.
** Got another transfer visiting Fri and Sat, one visited today. That's probably it unless a grad transfer decides to jump in.
JOHN COHEN
** Excited to have War Eagle at baseball and experimenting with other possibilities.
** Been working with Butch on baseball facility updates. Want to make a better experience for fans. Have made a couple of adjustments. Will have some things ready for '24 season, some for '25.
** Have had conversations with Under Armour. They've been terrific. Negotiating window closes Sept. 1, 2023. Can speak openly about it after Sept. 1.
** North end zone of Jordan-Hare has come up many times, still in research phase of updating J-H. Many parts need to the updated and improved. A lot of information gathering. Feel like the future is bright with what J-H could look like.
** On basketball facility: Landscape of college sports has changed. The funding for NIL is coming from funds that once went to facilities. NIL has to be a priority and we have to be competitive.
** Baseball has had some pitchers step up, been more accurate. Butch has a track record of pitchers getting better over course of year. Butch and Rock keep encouraging young arms and keep giving them opportunities. Some arms in bullpen don't look anything like they did first half of season and that's coaching. Lineup 1-9 is as good as anybody else in league.
** On softball: When Maddie Penta is on the mound, they can beat anybody.
** Excited for men's golf advancing to NCAA finals.
*****THAT'S ALL FOLKS*****
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