Auburn's Hugh Freeze Battling through New Tech

When the Auburn Tigers take to the field this weekend, they will be armed with new communication systems which should make everyone's jobs just a little easier, in theory at least.

Helmet-to-helmet communication was always bound to be embraced by a group of young men who grew up with smartphones and endless social media platforms.

While the Tigers players have predictably hit the ground running, for their 50 something head coach Hugh Freeze, he could look like he's fumbling around in the dark come game time.

"The players seem to be handling it pretty easily," Freeze admitted on Monday. "It's probably me more than anyone. I think I'm talking into it and I'm not because I'm not hitting the right button. I literally feel like I'm wearing one of the police belts. There's just stuff everywhere and you have to hit the right button so it's taken me some adjusting, for sure. The players have been pretty easy."

Ironing out potential gremlins ahead of the opening fixture involved some dry runs of the new systems at the stadium, but Freeze admitted they encountered some very untimely issues during the dress rehearsal.

"I will say we had a little issue with ours in the stadium Saturday, and I sure hope that's not going to be the case Saturday night," Freeze declared. "They quickly got it fixed, but it was two plays. I hope that's not a recurring problem that you might have. They really couldn't tell me what was wrong with it, but it's taken some getting used to from the coaching standpoint."

Coach Freeze has never hidden his slightly old school approach to incorporating the curveball the NCAA has pitched toward them. That being said, it's never stopped him also stating that he wants to use helmet communications to his advantage in the final analysis.

That's all well and good, but after seeing his defensive coordinator DJ Durkin cutting some Beastie Boys Sabotage type moves with his own retro walkie talkie, it's making Freeze a little bit jealous.

"I think DJ (Durkin) handles it better than I do because he just uses a walkie talkie, but my hands are so full that I'm trying to use all of my buttons. Maybe that's a mistake," Freeze conceded. "I don't know, but I do think there's some benefits to it, for sure."

While the sincere hope is that things will very much be alright on the night, Freeze detailed on Monday exactly where he will be positioning his eyes in the sky and boots on the ground as they go live for Saturday night fever.

"Offensively, (Derrick) Nix, Kent (Austin), Maurice (Harris), (Darren) Hiler. Those four I know are in the box," Freeze pinpointed his hawks up on high. "That means Jesse (Stone) is probably down to communicate with Kent. Jake (Thornton) is down for sure. Marcus (Davis) is down. Ben Algamaua is down. Defensively, DJ is still working on that. DJ will be down, he's just debating on who's best to keep down with him and who should go up."

It's not exactly a dress rehearsal against Alabama A&M on Saturday night, but the game offers an ideal setting to work the bugs out on the field and off before bigger game comes to town.