Hugh Freeze: Quarterback rotation will continue, says 'verbiage' has prevented him from being more involved in play calling
Auburn's rotation at quarterback is not aiding one of the worst offenses in the nation.
The swapping in and out of Robby Ashford and Payton Thorne has stalled out too many drives for the Tigers this season. Now off to their worst start in SEC play since 2012 (the season Auburn finished 3-9), Hugh Freeze and Auburn don't seem to expect any sort of change to their quarterback situation any time soon.
Freeze was asked if it will continue this week against Mississippi State.
"Whatever our offensive staff convinces me is the best chance to win us a game," Freeze said. "I've said from day one that I think Robby (Ashford) has a place. Is his place every down? We'll see this week. If it's a package that enables us to continue drives, we always have to look at those things right now with the current state of kind of who we are [...] I'm not content with anything right now offensively, so."
Freeze's words don't seem to match the product on the field. While he says he's not content with the current state of the offense, Auburn hasn't changed anything.
Outside of starting receiver rotation, the play calling is the same. The tempo is the same. The execution is the same. The anemic offense offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery and Hugh Freeze possess has not seemed to differ much at all throughout the course of the season.
One would think that if Freeze and his staff weren't content, they would try new things. Philip Montgomery doesn't seem to be changing anything anytime soon, and Freeze will continue to let him operate the way that he is.
While Freeze has vocalized desire to change things, he doesn't feel like he can step in more than he has because of how the players are being coached.
"Monty is calling the plays, obviously I have input," Freeze said. "I'm never one to sit here and say, to place blame on coaches, it's a combination, its all of us. Certainly I listen to the plan and evaluate it. It's harder for me than I thought with the verbiage and stuff to be really involved in every area [...] It's a combination, I'll jump in from time to time, as do the o-line coaches and others. But Monty is calling the plays, currently."
A previous SEC head coach returning to the conference after seven years decided to hire an offensive coordinator that he has claimed on multiple occasions to have communication issues (in relation to his team) with. Montgomery says things one way to his players, and Freeze can't change it because of how the players now understand the verbiage. For Freeze, a known offensive commodity in college football, to have decided to hire Montgomery understanding these issues (hopefully) going in feels shortsighted and almost careless.
Regardless of who's calling the plays, is there any realistic expectation for the offense to get any better as the season progresses?
"I'm always an optimist," Freeze said. "I thought we were going to be pretty good last week and I think we'll be pretty good this week."
Auburn faces off against Mississippi State this Saturday at 2:30 pm CT on the SEC Network.
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