Hugh Freeze was admittedly conflicted about play calling throughout the 2023 season. But after he fired Phillip Montgomery recently, the Auburn coach has found clarity for the Tigers’ play calling in 2024, according to ESPN’s Chris Low.

For context, Low pointed out that Freeze called his own plays during his first 3 head-coaching stops at Arkansas State, Ole Miss and Liberty and is widely considered one of the top playcallers in college football.

Auburn struggled offensively and finished 11th in the SEC in scoring offense (26.2 points per game) and was held to 20 or fewer points in 6 games. Around midseason, Freeze admitted to being more involved in the game planning on offense, and the play calling, at least at certain times during a game. But he criticized the game plan after the Music City Bowl loss to Maryland, which led to Montgomery’s firing. Freeze said he was more involved in evaluating the program and recruiting until just a few days before the bowl game.

Low reported: Freeze considered several different options in terms of who would run the offense next season, and although it’s more demanding than ever in this era of college football for a head coach to call his own plays, Freeze decided it was the best move for the program, according to sources. There were times last season that Freeze said he was more involved in calling plays, but Montgomery was the primary playcaller.

The other move is that Kent Austin will be the quarterbacks coach after he served in a quality control role at Auburn in 2023 and special assistant to the head coach. Austin is a former Ole Miss quarterback who was with Freeze at Liberty as co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Low reported.

Austin previously worked in the CFL as a head coach and general manager and was also the Cornell head coach from 2010 to 2012.