Auburn Tigers Season Could Hinge on Young Phenoms

Auburn Tigers key to success could be just how quickly freshman receivers Cam Coleman and Perry Thompson forge a partnership.

The Auburn Tigers signed the top wide receiver class in the country including Cam Coleman. / Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK

Big Cat Weekend has created a wave of euphoria which should help propel the Auburn Tigers very nicely into serious nuts-and-bolts type on-field preparations.

Now the glitz and glamor of the recruiting process will give way to pads and whistles, but expectations for the entire football program are undoubtedly growing.

Working with what he's got now becomes the remit for head Hugh Freeze moving forward, and he sounds pretty high on the receiving group he's assembled for 2024, but he isn't shy on imparting them with some sage words of wisdom either.

"Obviously you have to have the skill set and the ability to separate from some of the best athletes in the college game," Freeze said at his press conference this week. "They play DB for some of these other teams we are going to play. It's impossible to do that if you're not blessed with the skill set. And then secondly, I think the mentality of play the next play. I'm gonna win the next play, no matter what happened on the last one one. And yeah, I got it wrong and I didn't run the right route because I'll do that some as a freshman, but I am not phased and I don't go into the tank."

Despite the relative youth of the group of pass catchers he's put together, it's clear that coach Freeze is going to demand that they're seriously on point.

There won't be many fans or analysts that will argue against the fact that the tigers are loaded at the wide receiver spot. That's crystal clear, but in the first place, a whole load of recruitment miles and elbow grease has already gone into getting the wide receiving talent like Cam Coleman and Perry Thompson to head down to the Plains to further their football ambitions.

"They look the part," Freeze enthused about his receivers. "That's what an SEC receiver should look like. That's what Auburn should recruit all the time. In the South, they are out there, you've got to go get them. You've got to work hard to get them because everybody wants them, but to land Perry and Cam and Malcolm (Simmons) and Bryce (Cain), I think we arguably have one of the top recruiting classes in the country and those guys."

In so many ways, the new wave of talent like Coleman and Thompson will help define what the future holds for Auburn, but they can also help quickly turn the page on last year's losing campaign.

Just how Freeze opts to bring along his premier duo will be of paramount importance, but it's clear that it will take plenty of close evaluation of their on-going development before he gets it just right.

"Cam's probably a little farther ahead because he had all the spring to learn what we're doing and Perry hasn't practiced yet," Freeze conceded. "Malcolm hasn't practiced yet against the defense. Now they've done stuff against air, but now we'll get to go and then do it and see how they perform when somebody's up pressing them causing resistance.

"And I think that's the only way that you can strain to prepare for these games is by practicing that way. And so it would be curious to see, but there's no question they're talented. I'm careful not to put too much expectations on them in year one, but it wouldn't surprise me if they contributed in a big way."

Freeze is going to be asking for immediate levels of professionalism seldom seen at the collegiate level, especially because he's going to be lighting the fuse on an audacious youth movement.

Therefore, the Tigers' head coach has to be willing to accept that the buck undoubtedly stops with himself above everybody else.

"Yeah, we are depending on a lot of young kids and that's unknown exactly how well they'll perform in a league like this, but very excited about their potential for sure," Freeze declared. "And I'm sure we'll do our best to get them ready."

Ready, steady, GO.