Hugh Freeze: Auburn QB room among 'top' in the SEC, declares Jackson Arnold QB1

Jackson Arnold is the presumed starting quarterback for the Auburn Tigers heading into the summer, Hugh Freeze told Paul Finebaum on Wednesday at the Greystone Golf and Country Club. The incoming transfer sits atop what Freeze feels is one of the best QB rooms around.

Auburn’s quarterback room received a total makeover after the 2024 season. Both Payton Thorne and Hank Brown are no longer with the program, meaning Freeze had to build his new QB room from scratch. It goes deeper than just Jackson, the Auburn head coach revealed.

“I like our quarterback room a lot. I would argue that between Jackson [Arnold] and Deuce [Knight] and Ashton [Daniels], our quarterback room rivals the top rooms in this league. Now we’ve got to go prove it. Jackson didn’t prove it last year at Oklahoma. There are a lot of factors that could have gone into that. We could talk about, all the injuries, that they had three different coordinators, his loss of confidence. But I do think I saw a growing confidence through him all the way through spring.

“I love Deuce Knight. He is going to be a special talent. And obviously, I hadn’t coached Ashton yet but he’ll be here soon. He did great things at Stanford. But Jackson, it’s (the starting quarterback job) his, but I want him looking over his shoulder knowing that ‘Man, dang, Deuce sure did have a dang good practice today.'”

While Jackson’s job is safe at the moment, Finebaum noted his curiosity about the five-star recruit. He had heard some buzz surrounding his talents following the spring, to which Freeze raved over the skillset he had seen from his incoming freshman signal caller thus far.

“His arm strength — he can make every single throw as a true freshman, and I haven’t seen that a lot,” Freeze explained. “He’s got this demeanor about him that everybody wants to be around him and is drawn to him. And he has this humility to where, literally, there was not one time in spring ball where something didn’t go his way and it was always him taking the blame.”

“He’s a zero excuse maker. He comes in and he studies and I just think the sky’s the limit for a guy with that size, that range, that arm strength, that IQ.”

If Arnold maintains the starting job throughout the season, Knight could potentially use his redshirt and maintain all of his eligibility as Arnold enters his junior season. If he doesn’t transfer, this route could maximize his time playing for Freeze and the Tigers while giving Arnold the ability to prove himself at a new SEC school.

Auburn kicks off its regular season on the road against Baylor on Aug. 29 — a special Friday kickoff. The Tigers are already 1.5-point favorites per FanDuel Sportsbook as Arnold is set to make his Tigers debut.