Fate of Auburn Football Rests with Hugh Freeze and Jackson Arnold

When new Auburn Tigers quarterback Jackson Arnold takes the field for the season opener, he will simultaneously close a door and open a new one. First, he leaves behind an Oklahoma team and fanbase that grew more toxic as the days passed. Next, he steps onto the field for Auburn and a fanbase that welcomes him with open arms.

Considering how the Tigers struggled at the quarterback position for the last two seasons, Arnold could not help but to be an upgrade. If necessity is the mother of invention, Arnold hopes to fill that need for a program looking to become a player on the big stage again.

Quarterback at a Crossroads

Like the advice that most writers receive, telling them to not read the comments, social media poisons the wellspring of joy for athletes. Anyone with Wi-Fi access can unleash a torrent of anger, bordering on unbalanced enmity towards individuals or teams that they do not exercise a scintilla of control over.

After struggling mightily during a 54-yard effort against Tennessee, the vultures circled. It looked a far cry from the cheers and applause when he committed. Now, nothing could matter more than slamming the door on a program that did not want him and showed it.

Program Drifting Towards National Irrelevance

Hugh Freeze isn't Bryan Harsin. He does not exude the misplaced overconfidence or propensity for driving off an entire position group. Yet, the tie that binds Auburn's current coach and its former is a concern.

With every successive losing season, Auburn drifts farther away from status as a football power. In the same time period, Georgia rose from the ashes, casting a large shadow to the east of the campus. Meanwhile, the University of Alabama stands to the west.

Hugh Freeze fully understands the Tigers place on the SEC Serengeti, yet he attempts to change it, hopefully learning the lessons of the recent past. First, instead of moving his chips all in on Arnold, he slightly hedged his bet in Deuce Knight. While Knight hasn't played an official game, he presents hope, something that eluded this team for the better part of the last half-decade or so.

Through all of that, Freeze knows that the key to his stay on the Plains depends on 2025 performances. Two roads exist for the football program this season. Either a road to a renaissance or pigskin purgatory, where the ceiling of 7-5 hangs above the team like the stench of a mother-in-law's perfume.

Overview

While it looks like Auburn can start putting the pieces in place, the quarterback and head coach need to rely on each other. Their destinies are intertwined and legacy written in part by how they help/hurt Auburn. So far, by all reports, everything looks positive coming out of practice.

Now, the tough part remains. Can Jackson Arnold and Hugh Freeze work together to lift the program from the doldrums, finding its way back to the big time?

Freeze, Arnold, and the Auburn Family are counting on it.