Hugh Freeze is 'cautiously optimistic' Auburn will have a strong offensive line

A-Day marked the end of spring practice for Auburn, as the offense and defense lined up against each other for one last scrimmage on Saturday. The elements were harsh, limiting the Tigers’ passing game options and forcing them to work primarily on the ground for their offensive production.

This allowed head coach Hugh Freeze to showcase his offensive line, a unit that Freeze is feeling fairly fond on with spring practice coming to an end.

“I’m cautiously optimistic that we’re gonna have a decent offensive line,” Freeze said. “And in this league you can have a decent one and it’ll still look bad at times because the defensive lines are so talented, but there’s no question in my mind we’ve made improvements from last year to this year and I thought today was just another step forward in that.”

Auburn returns just three offensive starters from last year heading into the 2023 season, the least in the SEC. Only one of those players is on the offensive line, but the Tigers are in the midst of a rebuild. Freeze brought in three offensive lineman from the transfer portal in Avery Jones, Gunner Britton, and Dillon Wade.

All three come from the group of five level, but bring size and experience up front that’s expected to start and have a positive impact on the Tigers’ offense. Auburn’s offensive line excelled in the running game last year, averaging the third most rushing yards per game in the conference last season.

But if they want to grow they’ll have to do better at protecting to quarterback, as they gave up the third most sacks in the SEC a season ago with 32.

Hugh Freeze reveals hopes for recruits Auburn hosted at A-Day

Auburn‘s annual A-Day spring scrimmage was played on Saturday, as Tigers’ fans got their first look at their 2023 team with new head coach Hugh Freeze at the helm. But Auburn also had numerous recruits in attendance as well, who got their first glance at a new look program that they could soon be a part of. And following A-Day, Freeze spoke about the recruits being in attendance and what that means for the Tigers.

“We had a ton of great recruits here last night and this morning today and obviously you’d love for it to be a prettier day where everyone would have enjoyed it more and I think we’d have a bigger crowd and all of that,” Freeze said.

The weather may not have been ideal for the Tigers, with rain showers persisting throughout the scrimmage, but Freeze and his staff tried to make one of the biggest recruiting opportunities of the offseason as ideal as possible for their recruits. Various four and five-star recruits were in attendance for A-Day, and while the weather may have kept Auburn’s quarterbacks from throwing the ball as much, it didn’t keep their recruits from learning about what it’s like to be a Tiger.

“But ultimately they’ve been with us all morning as we prepped and they get a feel for who Auburn is as a football program and university, and they wouldn’t be here if we haven’t done a decent job of recruiting them to this point,” Freeze admitted. “So I think it speaks that we’re in it and we just gotta keep building those relationships and hopefully land some key guys.”