Cam Newton tweets out Hugh Freeze-inspired hype video for Auburn's Week 1 game

Cam Newton is no longer at Auburn, but he still supports his Tigers. On Thursday, the former Heisman Trophy winner gave a specific shoutout to Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze.

Newton didn’t play for Freeze, but he will never lack connections to his alma mater. After all, the 6-foot-6 quarterback threw for 2,589 yards and 28 touchdowns with just six interceptions in his lone season at Auburn.

Newton’s arm wasn’t his only tool. The Georgia native also rushed for 1,409 yards and 20 scores as the Tigers went undefeated and won the SEC championship. Of course, Newton’s accolades culminated in him winning the 2010 Heisman Trophy and BCS National Championship.

Hugh Freeze prepares Auburn for season opener

While Auburn might not win a national title this season, Freeze has been happy with what he’s seen from his team.

“Will it ever be 100% buy-in? I don’t know that you ever get that in any family, business, whatever,” Freeze said. “I think that’s kind of an unrealistic expectation. But you start getting 80 to 90% buy-in to that I think you’re onto something. I’m pretty pleased to this point.

“We’ve failed some tests in the adverse situations throughout, but I’ve never had a team that didn’t,” he said. “Some of our coaches, we’ve probably failed it too. We have to own what the film says and we’ll own it today, both coaches and players, and come back to work tomorrow and try to clean it up.”

Auburn doesn’t have many days left to clean up its issues before its season opener. On Sept. 2 at 3:30 p.m., the Tigers will take on UMass in their season opener. Freeze is focused on the team’s mental preparation heading into the contest.

“Our theme since we got here has been flip the script, and it’s really about re-wiring your mind of how you prepare for these 12 opportunities that we’re given,” Freeze said. “It’s something that has to be done daily that whatever is driving your beliefs are gonna drive some type of behavior and that behavior is gonna create some habits and that habits will ultimately give us all our destiny.

“The more of those days that we stack, that we’re doing things the right way with the right attitude and the right passion, then the more prepared we’ll be, and I think we’re still ongoing in that,” Freeze said. “That’s still a journey and it will be throughout this season. To this point, I think we’ve made progress and made strides in the right direction, and hopefully that shows on Saturday.”

On3’s Dan Morrison also contributed to this article.