So how many times will fans legally roll Toomer’s Corner this season? That remains to be seen, but Charmin sales are rumored to be up in anticipation of Hugh Freeze’s 1st year as head coach of the Auburn Tigers.

How that translates into wins and losses is highly anticipated. Here are 10 bold predictions heading into the 2023 season.

1. The Tigers go 7-5 in Freeze’s debut

That’s not the national championship game that Gus Malzahn’s Auburn team achieved in his 1st season on The Plains, but it’s a start. You’ll remember that Gene Chizik went 7-5 in his 1st season at Auburn, then won a national championship in his 2nd year.

That’s the formula Auburn fans are hoping is repeated with Freeze, whose Ole Miss teams improved with each year until the last, when allegations began piling up and interfering with his progress in Oxford.

2. 1st big win vs. Ole Miss

Auburn opens SEC play with a brutal 4-game stretch that starts at Texas A&M, then continues at home vs. defending 2-time national champion Georgia before visiting LSU and winding up at Jordan-Hare vs. Ole Miss.

A victory in College Station would be huge and is certainly doable. Not so much against Georgia, however. I just don’t see the Tigers ready to take down the defending champs just yet. But I’m not discounting what Freeze might pull off, either. Remember, his Ole Miss teams beat Nick Saban and Alabama in back-to-back seasons and came within a play of what could have been a 3rd straight victory over the Crimson Tide.

No, more than likely, Freeze’s 1st big win at Auburn will come in late October, when the Tigers take down his former school in front of what should be another sellout at Jordan-Hare.

3. Bowling again

After snapping a 9-year bowl streak in 2022, the Tigers are back in the postseason. With 7 victories and the buzz around Freeze and his improvement to the program, the Tigers accept an invite to the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., to take on a Miami Hurricanes team also on the rise.

4. Hunter goes for 1,000

Auburn has had just 1 1,000-yard rusher over the past 5 seasons. Tank Bigsby amassed 1,099 yards in 2021. Jarquez Hunter adds his name to the Tigers’ 1,000-yard club in 2023. The rising junior ran for 675 yards and 7 TDs in a backup role to Bigsby and dual-threat QB Robby Ashford last season.

Hunter will be the main focus this year in the Tigers’ backfield. That’s because Michigan State graduate transfer Payton Thorne is set to take over at quarterback, supplanting Ashford. The pocket passer won’t look to run anywhere near what Ashford’s numbers were last year. So Hunter will be given many more opportunities to carry the ball. And if he comes anywhere near his 6.5 yards-per-carry average from last season, Hunter will smash the 1,000-yard mark.

5. Transfer LB Larry Nixon III will lead the SEC in tackles

The senior transfer linebacker from North Texas isn’t getting much buzz, but this guy has proven he can play. In 45 games with the Mean Green, Nixon piled up 246 tackles, including 11.5 for loss, and 5.5 sacks. He recorded 106 tackles last season alone, 2nd in Conference USA.

Nixon will transfer that over to the SEC, where he’ll lead the conference in tackles in 2023.

6. Punter Oscar Chapman paces the SEC

The Auburn punter has finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively, over the past 2 seasons, averaging 44.12 and 43.75 yards per punt. In 2023, Chapman gets over the hump and leads the SEC. As one of the most consistent punters around, Chapman makes his senior year one to remember. He currently ranks 4th on the Auburn list with a career punting average of 43.40. Look for him to move up the ladder slightly in his senior season, chasing Auburn’s all-time leader Terry Daniel (44.51 from 1992-94).

7. Kicker Alex McPherson is SEC’s best

Now that the Anders Carlson era is over at Auburn, it is imperative that McPherson step up and fill the void. He will. Nearly perfect in limited action as a freshman last season, McPherson successfully booted 6 of 7 field-goal attempts and made good on all 9 PAT attempts. He will quickly develop into the SEC’s top placekicker, as early as next season.

8. OL is weakest link

It won’t be by season’s end, but initially, Auburn’s rebuilt offensive line will be the team’s weak link. It will take time for the new faces (transfers) to jell, and that will hold back the Tigers in the early part of the season. But strides will be made, and by the end of the year, this will be a group to be reckoned with.

9. Passing game is revived

With the addition of a handful of transfers, the Auburn passing game will once again be formidable. Of course, these new faces will have to jell. But these are veteran performers by college standards, and that maturity level should help in getting them all on the same page when the lights come on.

Last in the SEC in passing a year ago, the Tigers have finished no higher than 8th over the past 5 seasons. But Thorne transfers in having thrown for 6,011 yards over the past 2 seasons (46 TDS, 21 INTs). That’s more than any returning SEC quarterback not named Will Rogers.

Add to that wide receiver transfers Jyaire Shorter (North Texas), who last year led the FBS in yards per reception (27.2); and Shane Hooks (Jackson State, Ohio U), who in the past 4 seasons piled up 116 catches for 1,609 and 18 TDs, and you have the basis for a solid passing game.

By season’s end, Auburn will be among the top 5 passing teams in the SEC.

10. It won’t take long for Freeze to compete

It may not happen this season (however, don’t totally discount it). But Freeze is a winner, and he will have Auburn competing again for conference and national honors within a couple of seasons on The Plains.