Hugh Freeze breaks down competition in Auburn wide receiver room

As Auburn looks to overhaul its offense in the Hugh Freeze era, shoring up the Auburn wide receiver room was one of the new head man’s top priorities this offseason.

The Tigers didn’t have a single receiver top the 500-yard mark a year ago.

“We needed to overhaul that room and improve it for sure,” Freeze said this week. “I say that and truthfully I don’t know, the evaluation sample was so small for most of them because this system is totally different than what they’ve played in.”

The players Freeze does have returning in the Auburn wide receiver room do have some production, though not a ton of it.

Returning wideouts Ja’Varrius Johnson (26 catches for 493 yards, 3 TDs), Koy Moore (20 catches for 314 yards, 1 TD) and Camden Brown (nine catches for 123 yards, 2 TDs) all topped the 100-yard mark receiving last year. The Tigers would love any or all to step up their production in 2023.

“We’ve got to have those guys have production,” Freeze said.

But the Auburn wide receiver room also attacked the offseason by fishing for upgrades in the NCAA transfer portal. To that end, the Tigers took in five pass-catchers.

The most productive of them last season was North Texas‘ Jyaire Shorter, who logged 23 catches for 628 yards and 11 touchdowns. Not far behind was FIU tight end Rivaldo Fairweather with 28 catches for 426 yards and three touchdowns, as well as Cincinnati‘s Nick Mardner at 19 catches for 218 yards and three touchdowns.

Ohio State signee Caleb Burton and Ohio veteran Shane Hooks (26 catches for 515 yards and five touchdowns in 2019) round out the Auburn wide receiver room’s new additions.

“I do think we’ve improved that room in recruiting, and I do think there are guys here that can be better than what they’ve shown,” Freeze said. “We’re excited to see, I think we’ve seen glimpses of that but now we’ve got to go and do it when it’s real and live. But we are excited about the fact that I think we’ve improved that room for sure.”

What Auburn’s up against in terms of trying to turn things around is the nation’s No. 119 passing offense from 2022. The Tiger simply weren’t very effective throwing the ball last season.

The team produced just 172.7 passing yards per game, a figure that definitely won’t cut it for the Auburn wide receiver room under Freeze going forward.