‘We’re at our best when…’: Freeze talks offensive identity, WR, DL room, Jackson Arnold

Hugh Freeze joined David Pollack on the “See Ball Get Ball” podcast on Thursday morning. Freeze discussed a number of topics. Freeze broke down his offensive identity, what he doesn’t like, the wide receiver room and how it helps Jackson Arnold, and the defensive line room.

Freeze on Jackson Arnold

Q: You guys added some pieces this year. You’re adding and recruiting from the high school level but also from the transfer portal. You guys jumped in and got a few players, coach. Your starting quarterback Jackson Arnold, we saw him last year, we saw him have some good moments, especially with his feet. We saw the supporting cast not being elite around him by any stretch. When you saw Arnold, what sold you? What made you pull the trigger on him?

FREEZE: “Well, David, truthfully it comes back to what I saw from him out of high school. I just thought he was elite. He was gatorade player of the year and maybe the No. 1 quarterback in the country coming out of high school. Everybody wanted him and I thought he had all of the natural ability that it takes to run the offense I want to run.

“Studying the Oklahoma film–and I think others felt that way, too, even at Oklahoma. When you let a guy like Dillon Gabriel walk out the door, believing you have a guy there that is the heir apparent. I just think it was very difficult circumstances which all of us walk through at times. I mean, what, did he have three coordinators in one year? All the receivers were injured, some of the offensive line was injured. I think it was an unfortunate circumstance and I don’t know that it is anybody’s fault. I think it kind of compiled. He lost some confidence, I believe and maybe was a little hesitant to pull the trigger.

“I think Payton (Thorne) was that way for us, too, where, ‘Man is that guy really going to get out of the break, can I let that thing go?’ So, I think the biggest question I had is can we restore the confidence and swagger that I saw with that guy that was the gatorade player of the year coming out of high school that all of us wanted.”

Q: Have you gotten it back?

FREEZE: “I think so, I thought in spring he had that swagger. Now, I think what helped is him realizing, ‘Dang, I’ve got a one-on-one with Cam Coleman–this guy may make the play if I put it in the right spot.’ Or Eric Singleton, Malcolm Simmons, Perry Thompson, Horatio Fields… We have some guys that I think can make you have some confidence.

“I think it grew and grew throughout spring and he continues to lead our player-led 7-on-7’s this summer. I think his confidence has grown.

“I actually had a meeting with these personality trait guys that I have actually started kind of believing in some to help me. How do I deal with these different quarterbacks, Deuce Knight, who is a freak of a talent, too… and Jackson Arnold. How do I measure if the confidence is back? Tell me the bad stuff about me, and he did. He said, here’s where you are–you’re Scottie Pippen sometimes and you’re Michael Jordan sometimes–he likes to use the basketball players. He said the problem with that is that they are two extremes. You’re really bad about that with quarterbacks. Jackson doesn’t need that–he needs the Scottie Pippen teacher approach and not the “get your butt in gear, what the heck are you doing,” Michael Jordan approach if that makes any sense.

“So, I’m trying to make sure that I am approaching them correctly. Deuce (Knight) needs me to be his friend right now and just tell him I love him. There’s not a day that goes by that boy doesn’t walk in here, ‘Coach, how are you doing today?’ He just wants to know he is valued, which he is. I got off topic there, but I think (Arnold’s) confidence has grown for sure.”

Q: Coach, you obviously feel good enough about him to take him to SEC Media Days. The other comment, the offense you want to run, do you feel like with your quarterback room now that you can run the offense you want to run?

FREEZE: “Yeah, I do. It’s what (Arnold) grew up in. He’s natural through the mesh and that’s something people don’t talk about a lot. Then, RPO-driven, there are many who are not natural through that mesh and are in a big hurry to get out of it. He’s very natural from hip-to-hip. Someone has taught him very well on that which I think makes it very difficult on the defense and allows him more time to process where that extra hat is. And, should this ball stay in the belly or not.

“I think going to Media Days is an absolute no-brainer to show him what we believe about him. I think he needs that and that is what we believe about him. So, those things he has that are natural and will allow us to run our base offense. And, he can throw the concepts, too. I’m not a big concepts guy. I know it’s good, but that ball needs to come out pretty fast in this league. The ball needs to come out pretty fast in this league. The defensive line are just better athletes than most offensive lines. If you get into a drop back game….

“The years that we have won–I have been fortunate to win 10 football games at four different Universities. Those years that we did that, we were RPO, quick game, 7-man protection shots, and ran the football. The times you’re calling the drop back passes–that second year we beat Alabama in their stadium, I called five drop back passes in that game. I think we still threw for like 368. That’s when I think we’re at our best when we can operate in that manner. He has that capacity for us.”

The offense/passing game

Q: And he has those wheels. Coach, the one thing I saw a year ago, despite the failing around him, the wheels are great. But, I want to talk about Coleman and Singleton–it’s the best 1,2 punch, I think, in the country at wide receiver. It’s so nice to have one guy who can catch it–a 50/50 ball is an 80/20 ball. Then, the other guy, good luck putting your hands on that sucker. You have the mobile quarterback, but what does this offense morph into?

FREEZE: “We’ve got to be willing to do it (throw shot plays). Before I get to that, the game that sold me with Jackson Arnold–he put Oklahoma on his back against Alabama and said, ‘I will win this game with my legs.’ I think it was 148 yards he rushed for, but it was a difficult, hard-nosed tough 148 yards. He adds that element to us also. I’m not huge of calling 15 of those a game, but I want them to know that we could. Then extending plays, you have an Eric Singleton, when Arnold extends a play and (Singleton) takes off… I think he clocked the other day out here 23.7 MPH…

Q: What makes Cam Coleman special, Coach?

FREEZE: “Well, length and speed. Then he has natural ball skills that it doesn’t matter what is around him, he just feels like that ball is his. He’s naturally on the timing. You’ll see some receivers before they’re in the right position, but they’re covered, but the timing of the jump is a little off and they aren’t high-pointing it… That doesn’t seem like it is ever the case for (Cam). It just seems natural.

“Then, just that he wants to be coached. This day and time when kids are looking at their worth on On3 and whatever they are supposed to be worth and all of that, you just don’t get the impression that he ever gets caught up in that at all. It’s kind of refreshing and he’s fun to coach. He reminds me of the guys I had at Ole Miss when we signed Van Jefferson, DK Metcalf, AJ Brown, Laquon Treadwell, Evan Ingram. And you forget he’s just going to be a sophomore and still learning the game.

“Singleton… Yes he can run routes and all of that, but man, he can do so many more things that we’ve got to use him to do. He’s got to get his touches. Whether that is in the jet sweep world, the power read world with Jackson Arnold who can do that. You have our screen game–but you have to get this guy some touches because of what he can do with the ball in his hands. Don’t sleep on Malcolm Simmons, Perry Thompson, or Horatio Fields. Malcolm can run, extremely fast. We feel really confident about that room, hopefully it stays healthy.”

Defensive line

Q: That defensive line group, with McLeod off to the NFL–a lot of it was edge pressure. With the interior guys, not a lot of pressure or production from the interior.. Who are you looking at to step up and be an impact guy as a rusher on the interior defensive line?

FREEZE: “I think on the edge between Amaris (Williams), Keldric (Faulk), Chris (Murray), and Keyron Crawford–I think those four guys will provide the rush. Here’s what I think about us inside: I wish I could say, man we have two elite dudes… But I don’t know if they’ve proven that yet. I do believe with the way Durkin runs his defense and calls it, I think we are 6-deep in there of really solid bodies. If they play with the motor, energy, and passion that we want them to play with, we will be fine.

“Malik Blocton, the freshman last year, who did have some sacks, I think he’s the most explosive of those guys right now. I’m really excited about these two transfers we’ve gotten also. These young kids are going to be really good. I’ve said, if we just have time to build and develop these young kids, I really believe that we will be fine in there.

“But, I’m excited about James Ash, Jay Hardy, and Dallas Walker. Those three guys that we brought in late in the transfer portal world give us big heavy-handed bodies. And, you really don’t need anymore–just give us 15 snaps of incredible energy, passion, and doing the right job. With Malik and Bobby (Travis) returning, you’ve got two proven guys that have played a lot of snaps. Then, you throw in those two young guys in (Malik) Autry and (Jourdin) Crawford, and I feel like we’re deeper there than we have been. We have to convince them to buy in and play the number of snaps you have to play and do them at a high, high level.”