Coach Hugh Freeze ‘anxious,’ ‘uncomfortable’ as Auburn opens camp

Auburn first-year coach Hugh Freeze opened preseason camp Thursday with a lingering sense of doubt because of all the new players who weren’t with the team during the spring, including eight transfers.

“It makes me feel a little bit anxious that I may be behind in our evaluation of who we are and what we can do,” Freeze told reporters. “Maybe we are. That’s a feeling I have to battle.”

Freeze believes that aggressively rebuilding the roster like the school did throughout the offseason was “the right thing.” But now, he said, the players have to “hurry up and catch up.”

Among the late additions is former Michigan State quarterback Payton Thorne, who is expected to compete for the starting job.

“This is the most uncomfortable fall camp I’m going into and it’s because of this new world [of roster turnover],” Freeze said. “We had players we added after spring ball, and one’s a quarterback and I haven’t coached him a single practice and everyone’s asking, ‘What do you think?’ I have no idea.”

Freeze said he’s “excited” to see the quarterbacks compete.

Last season’s starter, Robby Ashford, is back, along with redshirt freshman Holden Geriner and true freshman Hank Brown.

Freeze said the team would like to narrow the quarterback competition to two quickly, but he wouldn’t lay out an exact timetable for his decision.

“I’m not sure we can’t win games with several of them,” he said.

Just because Auburn will have a Week 1 starter doesn’t mean that choice will be definitive, he added.

“How that plays out — heck, it may be three games into the season before we know this is absolutely the guy we have to roll with,” he said. “I hope it’s not that, but it could be.”

Freeze has a history of getting the most out of the quarterback position. At Ole Miss, Bo Wallace twice threw for more than 3,000 yards. Wallace’s successor, Chad Kelly, threw for 4,042 yards in 2015.

At Liberty, Freeze coached 2022 third-round pick Malik Willis.

Freeze was hired away from Liberty in late November.

Auburn fired former coach Bryan Harsin eight games into last season and finished with a 5-7 record. Former interim coach Cadillac Williams was retained by Freeze as associate head coach and running backs coach.

Auburn is scheduled to open the season at home against UMass on Sept. 2.