Hugh Freeze knows how to produce wide receivers, and recruits have taken notice

Freeze and his history of producing NFL caliber wideouts is helping along the trail.

The recruiting world, if you pay attention to it has been all about Auburn and how its first-year staff led by Hugh Freeze has secured the talents of two five-stars. Both of which were flips from its biggest rivals, Alabama and Georgia. 

The intriguing part of this is the Alabama commit that Auburn managed to flip, Perry Thompson. Thompson is a Foley native, which for those that do not know is where Alabama and NFL legend Julio Jones is from. How did Auburn, a school that gets one or two five stars every few years manage to get a five-star WR from the hands of Nick Saban and an Alabama team that has pumped out tons of WR talent into the league? The answer is Freeze's past with WR and the young presence of WR Coach Marcus Davis. 

2010 is a year all Auburn fans remember, but what many fans don't realize is that this year was the first time Hugh Freeze gained full control of an offense on the D1 level. During this first season, he managed to turn an offense that was in the 90's in both yardage and scoring to finish in the top 45 in both statistics. The key to this was an increase in passing attempts, which led to more yardage through the air. In 2009, the leading receiver for the Red Wolves had almost 600 yards and the next closest had under 400. With Freeze, the leading receiver had nearly 800, and three others also finished with more than 400 yards. 

Following that year he became the Head Coach, where he improved the teams' offensive statistics yet again. The receivers yet again increased their numbers with two years under Freeze, having three receivers over 700 yards, including a 1,156-yard season from WR1 Dwayne Frampton. 

Ole Miss came calling in 2012, after finishing 116th in the country in total yardage and scoring they needed a spark. Freeze turned 116th into 46th in the country his first year. The WR core also went from having an average of 12 receptions a game and not a single one having over 500 yards, to 20 receptions a game as a unit, and one receiver with 900 yards and another with 500. Donte Moncrief was the first WR under Freeze to go onto the NFL, he totaled 205 receptions, 2500 yards, and 21 touchdowns over the course of his career. 

That is the physical evidence of his ability to make WR more productive, now let us look at how well the ones he recruits manage to do. During his tenure at Ole Miss, Freeze recruited 15 WRs. There was one five-star, five four-stars, eight three-stars, and one two-star. Not all of them panned out but there of those 15, five were chosen in the NFL Draft. 

Cody Core, Laquon Treadwell, AJ Brown, Evan Engram, and DK Metcalf were all recruited by Freeze. Metcalf and Brown only were coached by Freeze for one season due to his resignation in 2017. Of the five mentioned the most impressive is Core, as he was a two-star from Auburn High and managed to produce 1,200 yards and 12 touchdowns and got drafted late in the 2016 NFL Draft along with Treadwell. Engram, Brown, and Metcalf have had incredibly good NFL careers up to this point and Treadwell was for a while but injuries have put a hamper on his career.

Back to the Auburn side of things, this production and NFL output for Freeze has made the WR recruits in this class reconsider and view Auburn as a destination. Marcus Davis and his production in his year at Georgia Southern also add extra proof in the proverbial pudding to these recruits. Bryce Cain, Malcolm Simmons, and Perry Thompson have bought into the past and present as DK Metcalf is still close with Freeze and talked with Thompson about how Freeze contributed to his development. 

The momentum for the wideouts is rolling, Davis and Freeze look to keep it heading into the 2025 class as the state of Alabama has two of the top ten WR prospects in the country.

---

Other Stories

Five-star wide receiver Perry Thompson flips from Alabama, commits to Auburn

Five-star linebacker Demarcus Riddick flips from Georgia, commits to Auburn

Hugh Freeze: Tigers' roster was 'far from what I believe an Auburn roster should look like'

Auburn football announces start time for 2023 fall camp

Hugh Freeze provides timeline for Auburn football quarterback battle

Jake Crain believes Auburn football can be 'sneaky' under Hugh Freeze

College football expert 'doesn't see' eight wins on Auburn football's 2023 schedule

Hugh Freeze provides updates for Auburn players injured in the spring

Engage with Auburn Daily on Socials!

Join the Locked on Auburn Discord

Follow Auburn Daily on Twitter

Like Auburn Daily on Facebook

Subscribe to Locked On Auburn on YouTube