Auburn’s Hugh Freeze Believes He Hasn’t Handled the Transfer Portal ‘Very Well'

Auburn's first transfer portal class underneath Hugh Freeze was No. 5 in the country.

The Tigers filled their needs, grabbing a quarterback, multiple offensive linemen, and a number of defensive pieces to provide depth. Freeze and his staff nailed the first go-round with the portal by almost all accounts.

Except for Freeze. He doesn't believe he's handled the portal very well.

It's not about the talent he's acquired, it's about the way he wants to manage his roster between transfers and Auburn's own high school recruits.

“I don’t think I’ve handled it very well, truthfully," Freeze said during Saturday's press conference when asked about how he's handled the transfer portal. "We want to build this program through high school for the most part. Having said that, I don’t know if you can ever isolate yourself into saying that’s what is going to happen because you don’t know how many you’re going to lose at this time, if that makes sense. You can plan, ‘Hey, we’re going to replace these 20 seniors with 20 high schoolers’, but then all of a sudden you have 30 spots and you haven’t recruited enough high schoolers for those spots and, obviously, you have to go to the portal then."

Freeze went on to comment about the current calendar for the transfer portal and high school recruiting. Coaches don't seem to like it at all, and to a fan who doesn't have to actually experience the grind and the flip flopping back and forth with recruits and transfers, the way things are set up don't make a ton of sense.

"I think our calendar is extremely messed up," Freeze said. "I don’t think it’s good for high school recruiting, portal recruiting, managing your own team, getting ready for bowl prep. I think our calendar needs a serious, serious look at it for what’s best for our game. It’s hard for any of us to truly manage all of it, truthfully.”

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