Have you ever had to make a life-altering decision before? Maybe it was deciding where to go to college, or who to marry. While those are big decisions, of course, no decision is as life-altering as Hugh Freeze deciding who to target at quarterback in the transfer portal. I kid, kind of.
Hugh Freeze’s second season on the plains did not go as planned. There is no need to rehash that at this point. The question is, how do you rectify things for season three? While there are multiple areas of improvement needed on Auburn’s roster before next season, the most important is the quarterback position. That is where the life-altering decision lies.
Auburn signed 5-star quarterback Deuce Knight last week, but he is not the answer in 2025. Auburn has to land a transfer portal quarterback. The question everyone in Auburn and around the college football world is asking-who will it be? It is not an exaggeration to say Hugh Freeze must land the right guy in this cycle or his tenure at Auburn will be short-lived. So yeah, it’s a life-altering decision for Freeze.
When one faces a life-alerting decision in life, he or she typically looks at all options. What options does Hugh Freeze have? There are a few. As of Wednesday, Auburn is set to host two of the top quarterbacks in the transfer portal on a visit. Maalik Murphy a transfer from Duke and before then Texas, and Jackson Arnold, the former 5-star who did not pan out at Oklahoma.
There are other quarterbacks in the portal, but as of Wednesday, those are the only two scheduled to visit the Tigers. Is Hugh Freeze’s choice between those two quarterbacks? Not necessarily. There’s a third and riskier option on the table, wait. Patience might be a virtue, but in this day and age of college football, patience is also dangerous. I would never accuse Auburn of tampering, wink wink, but there is the possibility that another high-level quarterback who Auburn may prioritize higher than Murphy or Arnold enters the portal. If you’re Hugh Freeze, can you take that risk, though?
If Freeze decides to wait in hopes that another quarterback enters and the player never does, he risks missing out on Murphy and Arnold. Then, you are in all kinds of trouble. With every life-altering decision, there is always a risk versus reward factor.
Freeze will have to decide whether the risk is worth the reward. His future at Auburn hinges on this decision. Like many life-altering decisions, we won’t know the outcome for some time. We are still months away from the 2025 college football season, but the decision has to be made now. What choice will Freeze make?
