It's once again time for TIGER TALK on the radio waves throughout the Southeastern United States!
LIST OF AFFILIATES AND LINKS
PREDICTION: Freeze was happy with the A&M win, but he saw a lot of things that must be cleaned up before ACC power Cal comes to town this weekend.
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ANDY says it was a big win on opening night. No question offered. "I thought it was a great opening night."
NOT ANDY wants to know about the first three drives, which included three tuddies. "I knew ... we'd have some really good 'shot' opportunities. The first drive went exactly like we anticipated. We were really trying hard to get Malcolm, Cam and Perry in the end zone at some point in the night. It helps in recruiting. 'Look what's happening.' Those first three drives went pretty well."
ANDY says students couldn't wait to get into the ballpark. "The first quarter seemed like it took a long, long time. It was probably five, six hours they were out there. It amazes me."
NOT ANDY asks about how players react to a buzzy home stadium. "We talk about it a lot in our team room. Our people are the best in the country. People will put that on Twitter — there may be some that are equally as good. I haven't witnessed it."
ANDY asks about the 10-minute quarters from last week's game. Hugh says the officials came to him as they were about to go out for the second half. Refs told him they'd done that for the Arkansas-Pine Bluff game. "I didn't know that was a thing. I thought it was the right thing to do. Let's get it over with. The last thing I wanted to do ... was to hand the ball off up the middle and try to get out of the game. So I agreed to shorten it."
*****COMMERCIAL BREAK*****
HERB is in the house. He won something. He asks about Cal's defense. "They've done a really nice job. They did a heck of a job on us last year. We've got to get ready; it's going to be a really good test for us. Have we improved as much as I think we have? They played quite a bit of man against us last year. I hope that's not the case this year."
KEVIN is in the house. He won something. He asks about Alex McPherson. "I really can't answer when. I wish I could. If you ask him, he's thinking Week 3 or 4. This is my first going through this with a real health issue that's internal. I'm just waiting for everybody to tell me everybody's comfortable with it."
ANDY asks about McGough. "I'm not the best guy for kickers to talk to. I try to stay away from them. Truthfully, he'd had some squirrly kicks all week long, so I was a little nervous. He gets in the stadium and he's a natural."
NOT ANDY asks about how Payton Thorne can handle tough coaching. "He's a mature young man. It's one thing if we see a look and he didn't get the look quite right and it's new. I think I'm pretty calm. When it's something that is part of our base offense that we should get right, I sometimes react pretty animated. Dang it, he ought to get those right. I can't hold it back. Jill on on me a little bit. I wasn't irate; I was pointed. You've got to be yourself. I've met with those guys and asked: Can I be myself? Can I be myself and you know when I'm through with those type moments, it's over with. I can move on to the next play or next series. You just have to trust me."
"Payton is fine with that. He gets frustrated with himself."
NOT ANDY asks about how they can now look on stuff on the iPad. "He throws a touchdown pass and doesn't get himself protected. In two weeks, that's going to be a shot in his ribcage. Yeah, he might have gotten it off, but now he's on the sideline (injured). That's absolutely unacceptable."
*****COMMERICAL BREAK******
ANDY asks about communication in the helmet. "I thought it was smooth. We had one issue right after half. They had to reset the system. We were on defense — DJ couldn't ... it wasn't working properly. He probably missed three plays."
WALKER is in the house. He's young. He wants to know how they find things to work on when they won by 70 points. "Great question! It's really not that hard because you want the film ... there's never been a game I've watched where there weren't things we could work on and correct. We always have a correction period on Monday. It was smaller than normal ... for the offense ... the defense had a pretty extensive one that they needed to work on with alignment. On offense, I think we had eight things we needed to get corrected."
NOT ANDY asks about the offensive line. "They protected and kept our quarterback clean. That's going to be vital all year long."
ANDY asks about Tyler Johnson and Dillon Wade on the left side. "In two of our tempo plays, we missed two gas calls. The tackle has to make 'em. Both of them were Tyler. One didn't hurt us. The other one hurt us. We were on the 3-yard line in tempo and a guy came off the edge and his Jarquez in the backfield. I thought Percy graded out well. Dillon ... he had four pancakes and was dominant in the run game."
NOT ANDY asks about being able to move D-Wade inside. "That would be our preference to keep him inside. He's powerful and he can run block and hold up in pass coverage."
ANDY asks about the thing where some players have given NIL money to help some orphaned kids. "It's something Jill and I have believed in. We were very active in Haiti for a long time. When we got to Liberty ... (a friend) invited us to Colorado. We went and they presented a plan ... for the crisis in America of Foster kids and orphans. We jumped in with them and rolled our foundation into theirs."
(He mentions they aren't working in Auburn just yet, but they're working in Birmingham and north Alabama. He's hoping to get the foundation going in Auburn soon.)
"We want to keep kids out of the Foster care system. Stats are not good once they go in — as to what happens when they time out of it."
"We met 13 families' needs last week."
****COMMERCIAL BREAK*****
NOT ANDY asks about how they didn't run as much last week. "When Jarquez has to carry it 20 times, you hope he's got the stamina. We did call quite a few runs in the second half, but they kept having an extra guy in the box."
"What I want to know if what we averaged per rush. Did we have an average of 5 or more the times we ran the ball? If you're doing that, you should be able to stay on schedule."
ANDY asks about the game at Cal last year. "We probably don't need to talk about that one. I was really frustrated. It's probably when I started this uncomfortable feeling of ... oh man, we've gotten away from everything I know and I can't help. I'm not saying I have all the answers, but it was really, really uncomfortable for me. Thank God we won it. It was the beginning of me saying: 'What have I done?'"
"I could not believe how many of our fans went to California."
ANDY asks about the secondary's performance Saturday. "Yeah, we've got a ways to go back there. That's my biggest concern. Cal's got a new offense. They're throwing it around. It'll be a good test to see where we really are. We're handsy and we kind of panic a little bit."
"Poor JC Hart had a pick and it went right through his hands. He chased the guy down and kept him from scoring and they ultimately didn't get points out of it. You don't quit. I gave him a lot of praise for that."
BOBBY is in the house. He wants to know how they recruit with these five home games in a row. "Show them a good product. I really believe we're knocking on the door of a Top 3 if not Top 5 class for sure. We've just got to finish it. It's not like Kentucky Fried Chicken where you hide the recipe. The recipe is pretty simple for playing in the SEC championship games and the playoffs. You look at the teams that have done it, they've stacked three to four to five Top 5 classes in a row. That is the recipe."
"We've had one. That doesn't mean we can't beat people this year, but it's still not equal yet. You give us one or two more classes that are Top 5 range, then your roster looks like the ones that have been playing for a championship."
Freeze signs off with a steely "War Eagle."
That's a wrap.
BE GOOD. BE YOU.
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