Auburn Tigers Stock Report ahead of Clash with South Alabama

The Auburn Tigers are 2-0 and ranked for the first time under head coach Hugh Freeze. They face what should be another tune-up game in South Alabama on Saturday, ahead of their trip to face a resurgent Oklahoma Sooners team.

With that in mind, let's take a look at how different aspects of the team are trending heading into Week 3.

Passing Offense – Down

Jackson Arnold has put up solid throwing numbers through two games in his first season at Auburn, but the Tigers’ passing game still has a long way to go to live up to its hype and potential as a group with loads of talent. Taking a look at the player personnel involved in Auburn’s passing attack, the ceiling for the pass offense is ridiculously high. Through two games, it’s been a mixed bag of results.

Arnold was a Top 10 national recruit in the 2023 cycle. The Auburn receivers of Cam Coleman, Eric Singleton, Malcolm Simmons, Horatio Fields and Perry Thompson have been highly regarded as either recruits, transfers, or in the eyes of NFL evaluators.

The middle of Auburn’s offensive line – Dillon Wade, Connor Lew, and Jeremiah Wright – are upperclassmen who have started most of their careers. Hugh Freeze and staff added Xavier Chaplin in the transfer portal, a left tackle whose name has been mentioned in a number of 2026 first-round mock drafts. Mason Murphy, a multi-year starter at USC, was good enough in summer camp to win the starting job over returner Izavion Miller at right tackle.

Auburn Tigers quarterback Jackson Arnold has been a willing runner the first two games of the season. | Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

With an athlete of Arnold’s talents and Freeze’s strong belief in run/pass options, the pass offense is certainly multifaceted. Arnold and the receivers have been efficient and effective at quick throws outside that are an extension of the run game, though they haven’t shown much more than hitches or a quick throw to an open guy in a twins stack look.

For the most part in the RPO game, the Tigers have taken advantage of loose coverage on the outside, but the designs should be more sophisticated in the upcoming weeks.

Arnold tucking and running on a designed pass play has been and will continue to be a critical part of Auburn staying on the field and moving the chains – as it was in the first half versus Baylor, especially.

The knock on Arnold coming out of Oklahoma was that he doesn’t get the ball out – which isn’t so black and white, as the Sooners were playing without many of their top receivers last season, and that when Arnold doesn’t find his open receivers soon enough, it’s not always a bottom-line bad play because he’s such a run threat.

Freeze and offensive coordinator Derrick Nix have put together successful passing offenses throughout their careers, but as of yet, the drop-back passing offense is far, far away from being what it’ll need to be in games at Oklahoma, at Texas A&M, and when Georgia visits Jordan-Hare Stadium.

The Tigers have South Alabama visiting on Saturday with a chance to improve. TheJaguars's defense has allowed just 162 passing yards per game against Morgan State and Tulane, but have struggled to stop the run.

Against Baylor in week one, the Bears played far from aggressive in defending Auburn’s offense. The Bears played with multiple safeties deep throughout the game, and the Tigers proceeded to run the ball for more than 300 yards.

Versus Ball State last Saturday, Arnold completed 24-28 tosses, but the likelihood of completing a pass on a called drop-back pass play wasn’t very high. Many of the completions were on RPOs, and a fair amount of called passes ended with a rushing statistic.

Arnold was sacked a number of times for a number of reasons. Jeremiah Cobb missed his protection pickup after Wright got beat on a play that could have been a long touchdown, Murphy was beaten off the edge, and Arnold held the ball too long. Several other times, Arnold took off running even though Auburn’s receivers had a huge talent edge versus the Ball State DBs.

Mixed in with a couple of holding calls, the end result is wildly inconsistent when Arnold drops back to pass, despite the sparkling numbers in the box score.

Trending Up – Transfer Portal Impact

Already mentioned, the duo of Chaplin and Murphy at the offensive tackle spots are going to be a critical part of the development of this offense. Auburn knows what it has already in Chaplin on the left side, in a good way. If Murphy can become dominant on the right side, look out as fellow newcomer QB Arnold could be up for All-SEC or All-American consideration.

A number of other transfers have played major roles in special teams. Left-footed punter Hudson Kaak from Oklahoma State has been solid. Tulane-transfer Rayshawn Pleasant had perhaps the play of the game at Baylor with a 98-yard kick return where he flashed elite speed. Pleasant is working his way into important snaps at cornerback, and the same with Miami of Ohio transfer Raion Strader.

Eric Singleton, who scored a pair of scores at wideout versus Ball State, could be Auburn’s number one punt returner when he’s back to 100% after a thigh bruise suffered three weeks ago.

Former Georgia Tech transfer Eric Singleton Jr. had a pair of touchdowns for the Auburn Tigers against Ball State. | Photo by David Gray/Auburn Tigers

Defensive lineman Jay Hardy and edge Chris Murray have cemented themselves into the rotation and have both been active up front with several tackles for a loss.

Perhaps the biggest surprise impact of any transfer has been Xavier Atkins, an undersized linebacker, at 6-foot and 210 pounds, who absolutely flies to the football. Atkins had four tackles for a loss and two sacks versus Ball State in what could have/should have been a shutout performance by the defense.

Offensively, Fields is one of the top four in rotation at wideout, and he has shown why with his sure hands. He had a third-down conversion catch to move the chains when Baylor had cut Auburn’s lead to seven in the fourth.

Preston Howard has settled in as a top tight end in several formations. Running back Durrell Robinson had a 54-yard score on Saturday in his second carry in an Auburn uniform, but is expected to miss time after having a pool of blood on his thigh requiring medical attention.

Trending Up – Freshman Defenders

Freeze’s roster build after the last head coach ran the program into the ground has been masterful, especially at a place that hasn’t had a winning season since 2020.

The 2024 true freshmen of Cam Coleman, Demarcus Riddick, Malcolm Simmons, Kaleb Harris, Malik Blocton, Jay Crawford was an incredible group last year and a great foundation to build the program around with plenty of others from that class like Amaris Williams, Perry Thompson, Bryce Cain, Kensley Louidor-Faustin looking to expand their role as sophomores.

The impact of transfer portal additions on Auburn’s roster has been huge, and a number of 2025 defensive signees are also playing critical roles.

Defensive lineman Darrion Smith has played roles inside and outside on Auburn’s front. With a knack for pass rushing at 270 pounds, he’s played some end, but he’s also been inside along with Amaris Williams on third-and-long. Jourdin Crawford, Malik Autry, and Jared Smith are also in the rotation.

Elijah Melendez has settled in as one of the top 5-6 linebackers, and continues to get meaningful snaps.

With Champ Anthony continuing to miss time with a broken thumb, Eric Winters has filled in at his safety spot. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see an expanded role for fellow safety AnQuon Fegans on Saturday as well.

With starting running back Damari Alston questionable on Saturday and Robinson out indefinitely, that leaves freshman Omar Mabson as the possible backup to Cobb versus South Alabama.

Auburn plays South Alabama on Saturday at 11:45 CST at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network.