Cam Coleman on Auburn Recruiting: 'We've Got a Couple More Coming Soon'

Auburn Tigers wide receiver Cam Coleman and his three freshman teammates lived up to the considerable hype in their debut.

Auburn Tigers freshman wide receiver had an impressive debut night. / Austin Perryman, Auburn University Athletics

It was a much hyped and anticipated night for Auburn receiver Cam Coleman and a talented true freshmen class at Auburn. Going back to December 2023 when Auburn signed “The Freeze Four,” the expectations have been incredibly high. On their debut night in college football at Jordan-Hare Stadium, they put on a show.

The opponent was a hapless and often times hopeless secondary of Alabama A&M, as Auburn’s young receivers burned the secondary en route to a 73-3 game.

“It was better than we thought we would do,” Coleman said, “but we’ve got to keep working,”

For the night the “Freeze Four” had eight receptions for 268 yards and three receiving touchdowns. Malcolm Simmons added another score on special teams.

Auburn scored on three consecutive offensive plays from scrimmage early in the game, as Jarquez Hunter dashed 34 yards down the sideline, KeAndre Lambert-Smith beat his man deep on a post for a 67-yard touchdown, and Coleman scored from 44 yards on a hitch-and-go.

“I was wide open,” Coleman said, “and I heard the crowd. It was really a great feeling I can’t describe. They had no safety. That’s Bingo. I saw it coming. I stuttered, and I had seen him fall. I was like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s coming.’ I looked up, and I was wide open. I was like, ‘Don’t drop it, don’t drop it.’

“I have a lot of faith in Payton (Thorne),” Coleman added of his QB. “If you count all of the reps we put in all off season he’s shown he can get the ball to where it needs to be.”

First collegiate score for @CamColeman12 📈 pic.twitter.com/pG7lBLinPM

— Auburn Football (@AuburnFootball) August 31, 2024

Coleman had another catch for 18 yards, and from there he watched his fellow freshmen wideouts Perry Thompson and Simmons find the end zone.

Thompson scored on a deep pass over the middle from 70 yards out in the second quarter. In the third quarter, Simmons recovered a blocked punt in the end zone for his first score. Moments later he caught a pass underneath from Hank Brown, reverse direction and easily outran the A&M defender to the corner of the end zone.

“It gives us a lot of confidence,” Coleman said of the freshmen performances in game 1. “The work we put in all summer, all the work we’ve put in since January is starting show. We’re going to keep the winners’ mentality and keep working.”

“It felt like I was scoring because we all cheer for each other,” Coleman added. “We’ve all seen the work we all put in. You shine, I shine, we all shine.”

The Auburn offense played tons of scholarship players at every position through three quarters and left the fourth quarter up to the deep bench and walk-ons. It continued to run the offense, and the Bulldogs continued to crowd the box leaving Auburn’s receivers 1-on-1 most of the night.

“It’s definitely important (to keep running the offense),” Coleman stated. “The defense they were running, they were stuffing the box so we had to throw the ball. We made big plays, and plays in crucial moments.”

Simmons had three catches for 91 yards and one score, Thompson had two for 82 and one score, Coleman had two for 62 yards and a score, and Bryce Cain had 2 for 33 yards.

Against an overmatched opponent it’s impossible to gauge what it means as far as “how good” the Auburn freshmen and Tigers offense will be moving forward. One thing for certain is that Coleman, Thompson and Simmons are fast and athletic.

To Coleman, it says that the Auburn program is heading in the right direction. “We’re definitely on the uprise, and we’re definitely recruiting. We have a couple of good additions coming up. I ain’t gonna say nothing too much, but we’ve got a couple more coming soon.”