Hugh Freeze explains decision to ease up on Jackson Arnold during practice
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Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze told reporters on Wednesday that the Tigers’ defense has been taking a different approach in practice this offseason.
Freeze said he asked defensive coordinator DJ Durkin to dial it back during spring ball with the goal of building up confidence for quarterback Jackson Arnold. The former Oklahoma transfer had a rough year in Norman last season but is hoping to turn it around on the Plains in 2025.
Freeze said building up Arnold’s confidence is extremely important.
“The number one priority for practice is for our quarterback to leave that field confident,” Freeze told reporters on Wednesday morning. “I’m going back to that this year. DJ has been awesome. The respect I have for him and the job he’s gonna do, I just think we’ve got to be really intentional about, ‘what are we doing in this period?’ And making sure that our quarterbacks have an adequate chance to really be prepared and have success. And not try to win a drill but try to get better in every scenario.
“I think the worst thing we could do for any quarterback, and Jackson in this case, is go out and practice this afternoon and we have scripted plays that have zero percent of success because obviously we’re not game planning right now for our defense.”
Auburn is gearing up for a crucial season under Freeze. The Tigers have had poor quarterback play so far during Freeze’s tenure and it’s resulted in 2 seasons below .500 in SEC play. Freeze and his staff will have to hope this change in approach will lead to different results.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
