A-Day date set for Hugh Freeze's first spring game at Auburn
AUBURN — The inaugural Hugh Freeze era spring game at Auburn is set. The annual A-Day game will take place inside Jordan-Hare Stadium on April 8, the program announced on Tuesday.
Both of the Tigers’ spring-game MVP’s from last season are returning in quarterback Robby Ashford and linebacker Cam Riley.
And if you missed Auburn Live’s exclusive with Ashford, go read it. It’s well worth your time.
Auburn will start spring practice during the second week of March. Teams are given 15 days for spring practices. Given the state of the roster, a new coaching staff and the ability to add and subtract through the transfer portal, it’s sure to be one of the most competitive spring camps in recent memory at Auburn.
The Tigers began their winter workouts under new strength coach Dominic Studzinski, who came over from Liberty. Freshman enrollees and transfers already on campus are participating, along with all returning players.
Outgoing vs. incoming production
RELATED: ADDING UP AUBURN’S OUTGOING AND INCOMING PRODUCTION HEADING INTO THE SPRING
Simply adding players in the transfer portal doesn’t tell the whole story, not even close. The goal of new Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze wasn’t just to add players, but add quality players with experience at positions of need.
With 12 players currently committed to transferring into the program, and 10 players having already entered the portal to leave the program, let’s take a look at exactly how Freeze and Co. have addressed their needs.
— The Tigers’ transfer portal class ranks No. 2 nationally behind only UCLA. The 12 players coming in have an average grade of 77.75, and the 10 players leaving the program have an average grade of 60.50. These grades reflect the player not on his high school talent or potential, but simply on production in college during their careers thus far.
— The main reason Auburn’s class is ranked second is a combination of quality and quantity players coming into the program. If you simply looked at the average grade of players transferring in, Auburn would fall around 15-20th nationally. However, some programs only landed two, three, four or five players. It’s easier to maintain a higher average with fewer committed transfers. Auburn’s transfer portal task was more difficult.
— 16 teams among the top 70 in On3 Sports’ team transfer portal rankings have double-digit commitments from the portal. Only four of them have higher per player average grades than Auburn’s 77.75: USC, Florida State, UCLA and Wisconsin. Teams of note with double-digit transfers in with lower per player average grades are Colorado, LSU, UCF, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.
The current transfer portal window closes on Wednesday, January 18. There is a second window from May 1-15. While the Tigers might not be completely done rebuilding the roster, most of the heavy lifting appears to be complete.
