Auburn football went 6-7 during its first year with Hugh Freeze as head coach. Even though the Tigers do not have anything to celebrate on the field, they have found something to celebrate off of the field.
Unfortunately, nobody cares. The stat is completely irrelevant and it comes with so many qualifiers.
It also does not appear to be true! Oops!
Auburn boasted about its success on the recruiting trail. It shared a graphic that honored Freeze for landing:
- The highest-ranked recruiting class
- in a head coach’s first year
- among active coaches in the SEC
- according to On3, which didn’t even exist until two or three years ago
- among active coaches in the SEC
- in a head coach’s first year
Whoop de doo…
There is no denying that the Tigers are currently in the middle of a strong run.
30 players have committed to the program. Two of them are five-stars, 14 are four-stars and 14 are three-stars. They have also added eight Power Five transfers through the portal, including a handful of former four-star prospects.
That’s great, but it doesn’t warrant a graphic.
Even Lane Kiffin was confused. He responded with one simple emoji: 🧐
The way that Auburn is promoting Freeze’s first full-year recruiting class is very weird. It is saluting him for having a better recruiting class than every other current coach in the SEC during his first year.
For example, Kiffin was named head coach at Ole Miss in December of 2019. His first full recruiting class was in 2021 and the Rebels finished ranked No. 17 that year.
The Tigers’ graphic also does not appear to be accurate.
Kirby Smart was hired at Georgia in December of 2015. His first full recruiting class was in 2017 and the Bulldogs finished ranked at No. 3.
That is higher than Hugh Freeze and Auburn at No. 8, no?
The decision to post the graphic was questionable. To also get it wrong is embarrassing.
Maybe the Tigers are actually referencing something else that does somehow make their graphic accurate. If that is the case, then there are way too many qualifiers for this college football “stat” to matter in any way, shape or form.
But it doesn’t seem that way. It appears as though Auburn got it entirely wrong.