Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze is pleased with the progress of his roster, but that won’t keep him from hitting the transfer portal.

After two losing campaigns into his coaching tenure on the Plains; it’s a fact that Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze is under intense pressure to turn things around and play winning football in 2025.

You can talk until you’re blue in the face about how it’s absolutely vital that Freeze finally stirs the sleeping giant that is the Auburn Tigers, but some of the serious decay was also inherited. It’s the main reason Freeze is the first Auburn coach to survive two-losing seasons since the 70’s.

Therefore, Freeze has always spoken openly about how it will take sticking with a process of stacking successful recruiting windows like building blocks before results can follow.

With his core infrastructure solidifying all-around him at last, Freeze is boldly doubling down on his original plan.

“I think the cohesiveness of our staff, the culture that’s in the building and the depth chart has changed over two recruiting cycles,” Freeze said this week after a practice. “I wish there was some secret thing I could just flip and tell you that, but I really think the culture is just growing each year to be better. The cohesiveness of the staff being able to hold them together.

“Thankful for our administration and their help when we need help to do that. John (Cohen) and Lee (VanHorn) and those guys have been incredible in supporting us in that and then our recruiting efforts everybody in this building and our On To Victory team, and everybody has pitched in to making sure that we commitment to making sure that we continue to recruit at a level that matches rosters of the teams that are elite.

“I said it would take three recruiting classes. We’ve had two and I feel much better about what you see on the field.”

While a thirst to attain some instant gratification is omnipresent in the world of sports, harnessing the abundant talent he’s put together at the wide receiver position in particular – suddenly feels like it might just be about to come good.

“Malcolm (Simmons ) looks like a different guy. Cam (Coleman) obviously is more confident and understands what we’re saying when we are making an adjustment to a route,” Freeze explained.

“When you have experienced guys, you can say ‘hey, we’re going to run Cali here, but I want to run this one different route with it at one of the spots.’ And I think they’re feeling much more comfortable with doing that now than all of those.

“Perry (Thompson) has to play faster at times, but he’s starting to get it. And obviously Eric (Singleton)’s played a lot of ball and he’s adjusting pretty well to our system. But there’s no doubt that I feel more confident. I think I can coach them harder and demand more of them and they demand more themselves.”

Planting and nurturing the existing seeds he’s planted is one approach Freeze has clearly taken, but even though he’s feeling good about the incremental progress, it might take adding more pieces here and there to round things out. Freeze hinted this week that the Tigers could be active in the spring transfer portal.

“Do we need a little more help at a few positions? Yes,” Freeze declared. “We will see if we can address that in the coming months. I’m really encouraged and optimistic by the confidence I see growing and obviously the deeper depth chart that we have.”

At least filling the hole under center has been checked off the current to-do list, with both new faces Jackson Arnold and Deuce Knight looking good in the early going.

“The quarterback play is going to be very significant and vital, we know that,” Freeze confessed. “I am confident in that to this point. Now I want to see us make the right decision, execute it at a high level, and see if our guys can make plays.”