Hugh Freeze criticizes SEC officiating at Auburn scrimmage: ‘They were flag-happy’

Hugh Freeze is not a fan of how Auburn’s Saturday scrimmage was officiated.

The new Auburn head coach complained about SEC officials following practice, saying they were “flag-happy” and called back a few “explosive” runs.

Football is back, baby!

Auburn HC Hugh Freeze: “Good God, we had SEC officials (in the scrimmage), and they haven’t done anything in a year… and they were flag-happy.”

— Justin Ferguson (@JFergusonAU) August 19, 2023

For what it’s worth, Auburn averaged 7.5 penalties per game last season, the 4th most in the SEC. Obviously, that was under a completely different coaching staff.

As far as the actual scrimmage, Freeze noted that Jeremiah Cobb saw a lot of touches in the backfield, but that all of them ran the ball well. The Tigers will likely see big help from Cobb, Jarquez Hunter and Brian Battie in the backfield this upcoming season. Battie, unsurprisingly, was revealed to be Auburn’s kickoff returner for this season by Freeze Saturday.

Here’s a look at how Payton Thorne, Robby Ashford and Holden Geriner fared under center:

as you’ve probably heard by now, Auburn WR Shane Hooks went off today

quarterback stats from the second scrimmage…
– Payton Thorne: 12-17 for 2 TD and 1 INT
– Robby Ashford: 8-15 for 2 TD
– Holden Geriner: 7-11

— Justin Ferguson (@JFergusonAU) August 19, 2023

Ethan Stone

Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.