Keldric Faulk defends Hugh Freeze amid hot seat talk at Auburn: 'I do take that personally'

Keldric Faulk has seen the critical headlines and heard all the “hot seat” rumblings regarding Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze facing a potential make-or-break Year 3. And, much like the popular Michael Jordan meme from Netflix’s “The Last Dance” documentary, the Tigers’ star pass rusher has taken it personally.

“Yeah, I do take that personally. Coach (Freeze) deserves this job, and it’s up to us now to get this going,” Faulk said Tuesday on the second day of 2025 SEC Media Days from the Atlanta Omni Hotel in Atlanta. “Coach has put some of the best people around us, whether it be coaching staff or players that he’s brought in – he’s brought in his own players, his own coaching staff – and now it’s up to us to go out and execute.”

Auburn is currently mired in a historically bad run after going through its fourth consecutive losing season with a 5-7 record in 2024. The last time the Tigers suffered through at least four straight losing seasons was way back in the late 1940s, when Auburn went 9-35-4 between 1946-50.

While he’s only responsible for half of those four years, Freeze has yet to match his previous SEC success at Ole Miss (2012-16) — when he went 39-25 prior to having to vacate 27 of Freeze’s wins due to NCAA violations. Through two seasons, Freeze is 11-14 overall and 5-11 in SEC play at Auburn, including winning just two SEC games in 2024.

Hugh Freeze: Auburn ’embracing the highest of expectations’ entering Year 3 on The Plains

Despite those struggles in the win column, Freeze and company aren’t shying away from the importance of turning things around in 2025. In fact, Auburn is actually embracing the pressure to succeed.

“We are embracing the highest of expectations. It’s time for us to start climbing that mountain and winning some of those games,” Freeze said Tuesday at SEC Media Days. “[…] Would you love to have one more year? Sure, but there’s zero reason that our team — Lord willing we stay healthy — shouldn’t be expected to compete in every single football game (in 2025).”

Nevertheless, the back-to-back losing seasons under Freeze have already taken their toll on the Tigers locker room. For some Auburn leaders like Faulk, the losses have only served to ignite a fire within him to change the narrative on The Plains.

“When I came through high school, man, I was never used to having a losing season. That’s for a lot of guys that come to Auburn, we’re not used to losing seasons,” Faulk said Tuesday. “Just to get back to our winning ways is vital for me. I want to feel the drive just for, at the end of the day, to know that we can put a team away. For us to do that, we’ve got to be more consistent. We have to practice consistently, we have to workout consistently, we have to eat, drink, sleep consistently.”

While week-in and week-out consistency will be important, how the Tigers players ultimately handle the mounting pressure to win now will be what either reestablishes Auburn as a winner or serves to further raise the temperature under Freeze’s budding “hot seat.” And Faulk has fully embraced the challenge.

“I feel like there’s a lot of outside pressure on us, just because of the past two seasons,” Faulk said Tuesday. “[…] I feel like we’re embracing it, because that’s what we want. Our expectations for ourselves is even greater than the expectations people have for us.”