Cole Cubelic Raises Red Flag on Hugh Freeze, Jackson Arnold

Is Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze coddling Oklahoma transfer and former five-star quarterback Jackson Arnold?

That is what a couple of ESPN personalities have heard.

Former Auburn center and SEC Network analyst Cole Cubelic recently sat down with Josh Pate to discuss the situation.

“I’m a little bit down on Auburn after yesterday,” Cubelic told Pate. “Hearing Hugh Freeze talk about instructing his defensive staff to essentially make life easy on Jackson Arnold in practice to boost his confidence.”

Cubelic’s remarks surely won’t excite any Tiger fans, but they’re not nearly as damning as what SEC Network’s Dari Nowkhah told the Chuck and Bo Show on ESPN Arkansas.

“I had an experience with Hugh Freeze this week where he made it sound to me like he had no choice but to bring Jackson to media days because Jackson needs that kind of reassurance,” Nowkhah told hosts Bo Mattingly and Chuck Barrett. “Hugh’s telling other media people, ‘we had to ask (defensive coordinator) DJ Durkin and our defense to make sure that practice does not end without Jackson feeling confident.”

Yikes. Sounds like a lot of hand-holding going on in the early goings for the third-year head coach and his new quarterback. But what does it all mean for Arnold and the Tigers in 2025?

Realistically, nothing. Should Auburn fans be worried? Maybe cautiously curious, but no reason to hit the panic button just yet. The only practices Freeze could have been referring to would be from spring.

Arnold was in major upheaval. He was learning a new system, a new team, and probably still trying to distinguish between Magnolia Ave and Shug Jordan Parkway. It makes sense that Freeze would want to cut the kid some slack. You can expect the guardrails to drop come fall camp.

Now, in saying all of that, does this news sound bad? Abso-freaking-lutely. We are a month out from Baylor, and the head coach is telling media that he told the defense to take it easy so as to not hurt the QB’s feelings?

The same QB that is supposed to help revive a floundering program and save the coach’s job?

Not a good look. At all.

But it’s not like this is the worst look Auburn has had this offseason. And this news will work itself out. The Tigers start fall camp on July 29, and the season starts a month later against the Baylor Bears on August 29.

And there isn’t anything to fret about until then.

That being said, if Arnold struggles early, you can fully expect this conversation to resurface with a vengeance.