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Auburn basketball legend Charles Barkley threw some shade at the football team following its most recent loss to Texas A&M. The former Tiger quipped that the quarterbacks on the roster might need some help from a higher power to perform.
The comments were made during an appearance on the Next Round podcast as he gave listeners a comical response to the middling play, as well as touched on a few different topics surrounding the program.
An avid supporter of the school, he’s often seen rooting the football team on during the fall. This year is no different as the Tigers trek through Year 1 with head coach Hugh Freeze.
Auburn started the season 3-0, which included a road win over Cal.
Unfortunately, the Tigers took a step back in their SEC opener against the Aggies. Auburn fell 27-10 in College Station to start conference play at 0-1.
One glaring issue in that loss was the performance of the quarterback position.
Auburn passers combined to go just 9-for-23 through the air, totaling 56 yards. It’s a trend that was seen in that win over Cal, too, as the Tigers mustered just 94 passing yards.
Charles Barkley wants to see some sort of positive change, and he’s turning to the Lord for answers.
“If y’all are gonna be down there baptizing people, please pray for better QB play,” Barkley quipped. “Let’s get these three quarterbacks and baptize them, and maybe the Lord can make them play better.”
He hinted that the Auburn signal callers are playing scared as they look over their shoulder at potential replacements. The Tigers played three different quarterbacks in that loss to TAMU.
The QB criticism came directly after Barkley showed love for Deion Sanders, saying that he wishes the program would’ve hired Coach Prime over Hugh Freeze.
“I think he’ll definitely win a national championship somewhere,” the former NBA star said. “He doesn’t even have his own players yet… I love Deion, and listen, I want to choose my words wisely… publicly and privately, I wanted Deion to get the Auburn job. 100%. That being said, he didn’t get the job, so I’m 100% behind Coach Freeze.
“What Deion has done so far, and what he’s going to do… He’s a wonderful person… He’s going to create men… My worst nightmare is him coming to the SEC. If he gets to one of those warm weather climates, it’s going to be history.”
One of the SEC fanbases with an eye on Sanders is Barkley’s rival Alabama. Many of the team’s fans have already pegged him to be Nick Saban’s predecessor upon the legendary head coach’s retirement.
Barkley thinks Bama shouldn’t take for granted what they have, however, which is college football’s greatest coach.
“I hate [Alabama] fans. They’re obnoxious. They lost two games last year and it was like, ‘Oh, kill us now. It’s the end of the world.’ It was [the same] after they lost to Texas. You’ve got the greatest coach ever, and they’re a bunch of ungrateful brats… They’re obnoxious and entitled.”
Many would agree.
As for Auburn, Barkley will be rooting the team on this weekend as the Tigers take on defending national champion Georgia.