Hugh Freeze press conference review: Georgia week
Hugh Freeze returned to the podium to address the media following his team’s 27-10 loss to Texas A&M on Saturday and spent time sharing his thoughts ahead of Saturday’s game with Georgia.
One of the main points of emphasis in Monday’s presser was quarterbacks. Starter Payton Thorne passes for less than 100 yards for the second-straight game and has failed to consistently complete 75% or more of his passes. Backup Robby Ashford has gotten looks, but he has not won the battle over Thorne yet.
Third-stringer Holden Geriner played several snaps in the Texas A&M game, could he potentially start Saturday against Georgia? Freeze shut down that possibility Monday but described the diagram for Geriner to get more looks.
“I think Holden, if he ends up at some point being the guy, he must have a lot of reps. I love the way he seemed poised. His throws were inaccurate. Two balls out of bounds. He threw one really good one. Really, he was about 1-for-5 in accuracy. We are talking about a guy that we haven’t given quality reps. I think he, with the quality reps, could be more accurate. He has the quickest release. He stands tall in the pocket, and I don’t remember him having an enormous amount of pressure around him at that time, so that remains to be seen. Something that we must look at during the off week. I have a lot of things; I have a whole list that I have formulated.”
Freeze hit on a number of topics including his thoughts on the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, Kirby Smart’s success, and his view on playcalling.
Here’s a rundown of everything Hugh Freeze said during his Georgia week press conference on Monday.
Opening statement
“Obviously, you never like to lose games, particularly when you don’t feel like you played your best, but there were a lot of things that I liked, especially from the defense. I thought they played extremely hard, and short-handed. Really, we easily could’ve probably held those guys to around 13 points. We were down to our third team weak safety, who obviously didn’t get enough reps, but when (Donovan) Kaufman went down, we had to take (Caleb) Wooden and move him down there. We just blew two coverages with a guy that just hadn’t played a lot of snaps. We’ve got to keep creating depth, but I thought they played a really solid game. I’m proud of that side and the staff.”
“Offensively, I know you’ll find this hard to believe, but you watch the tape and there’s a lot of good things in the first half. We should’ve left the first half with a minimum of 12 points. The two holding calls that we had on 1st-and-10 inside of the 30 on both of them, that put us behind the chains. We’re not quite good enough yet to survive that. We were running the ball effectively, and then the pressure was a good bit on us, for sure, when we had to get in those throwing downs. I think they have one of the more talented defensive fronts, but we had people open. It was a mixture of, I think, us not standing in there and making the throw, and then also some times where I don’t think we had time to adequately step up and make the throw. We’ve got to continue to work and coach that better and get us more consistent and stay out of the negative play situations where we easily could’ve had some points in that first half and made that a game. So, that’s the frustrating part of it for sure. But I’m excited to be back home to play one of the gold standards in college football right now, with what Coach (Kirby) Smart has done there in his eighth season. He’s got it rolling, so it’ll be a great test for us. Thank God we’re in Jordan-Hare. I know it will be electric, and we’re going to get the kids that are healthy enough ready to play and compete in this game.”
Penalty assessment of last week's game
“Well, there’s four of them that I didn’t like, and I’ve turned them in. I don’t see them. Then there’s three that – two were intentional to try to back us up to punt and give Oscar (Chapman) a little more room to try to pin them deep. The false start can’t happen. We had one of those. I’m trying to remember what the others were. There was a holding call on a pass play that was probably legit. So, I mean, it was a mixed bag. You can’t have 10 penalties though, for whatever reason. It put us behind the chains. And I thought we controlled the second quarter. I think we had it for 12 minutes and came away with three points. I think that defines the game. You control the ball 12 minutes in a quarter, you’ve got to get some points. We certainly felt like we were in field goal range at least – forget touchdowns – let’s just say we were in field goal range on four different occasions and got knocked out, either because of penalties or a sack, after that. That’s really where the game… and then the seven-minute span in the third quarter, where we did not get any first downs and they got explosive plays, for whatever reason. I think just flipped the game. So, can’t have the 10 penalties, and that’s not typically who we are, and we got to get that cleaned up. It’s good to see us not turn it over.”
Will Payton Thorne remain the starting quarterback?
“We’re still kind of wading through that, but that’s probably where we’ll land this week also.”
Payton Thorne in practice vs. in games
“Practice was really good last week. He is really sharp in practice, last week particularly. We keep hoping to see that translate into the games. It is a combination, it’s not all Payton. But sometimes it is. He owns it. We had a good meeting last night. We have to try this week to get a plan in place and execute. It falls on Philip (Montgomery) and his staff and on me.”
Why Payton Thorne is still the starter
“Well certainly with more consistent play, but there are times I feel like where we’ve let both Payton (Thorne) and Robby (Ashford) or Holden (Geriner) down. Because of all the other components that go into the passing game, that is where I’m determined to help get fixed this week before you give some final grade on quarterback play. When Robby came in, I thought he made two really nice throws on two deeps balls and I thought the routes were not run correctly. I know the quarterbacks and coaches get the blame. The coaches, we deserve it and the quarterbacks don’t always deserve it. Again, I’ve said we are a work in progress with the roster that we have. I’ve always had that in my mind. I kind of divide up the season up. There is season one which is the season going up to the open week. We have a lot of evaluating to do that open week as to how you move forward from there.”
The offensive struggles at Texas A&M
“It’s a combination. It’s a plethora of responsibility, but ultimately, it lands in my lap and the lap of the offensive coaches to make sure the routes are run at the correct depth, with the correct releases, against the correct coverage. Then obviously, protection has to be good. It’s very hard to do that in third-and-long situations against the talented defensive front that you see in this league. There were some times where the ball should’ve come out and it didn’t. I think the responsibility lies in a lot of different places. But we also had a great third down throw, that put us back in scoring position, that we didn’t catch. It’s a combination of things. But ultimately, like I said, it lies with us, the coaching staff, to get those things fixed.”
Injury updates heading into the Georgia game
“Damari (Alston) will be out for a period of time for sure. They are doing more tests today with that, but he had a dislocated shoulder for sure and sometimes those things can heal on their own. Other times they require some more work, and we really don’t know. (Donovan) Kaufman tried, but just kept being gimpy with the ankle and we’ll have to see how he is day to day. (Zion) Puckett obviously left with a shoulder and that really hurt us. He was doing a good job keeping us on the same page with our coverages and that really cost us two touchdowns. We had to move (Caleb) Wooden to our nickel position because J.D. Rhym couldn’t play and we were already without Keionte (Scott) and Kaufman. That really took a toll and hurt us there but, all those guys will be day-to-day. I don’t think it’s anything that will keep them out a significant amount of time.”
What they were hoping to accomplish at Texas A&M
“I loved the game plan and thought we ran the ball really well in the first two quarters. Had some explosive runs. Again, controlled the entire second quarter with the run game and just didn’t convert any drives for the reasons I’ve already mentioned. The second half game plan could have been better, particularly in the third quarter. But I felt good about the first half. We made some mistakes that hurt us on a few calls that should’ve been executed. Obviously, we haven’t coached them well enough. I thought there would have been even more explosive plays. We have to transition and block better at the perimeter and that would’ve made those 10-yard runs and 20-yard runs. We still got a lot of coaching to do on that side of the ball, but I thought the game plan was really solid when you look at the film. People were running open. On the routes that were designed, we either didn’t have enough time or misread a wheel route that was probably a touchdown. We would overthrow it. We had a seam route. (Tyler) Fromm running wide open and missed that. We got to make those plays when we have them. A lot of those designs, we either got to coach it better or we got to execute it better. It’s a combination.”
His thoughts on the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry
“Well, I don’t want to quote something that is inaccurate. It’s the oldest rivalry in the South for sure. I don’t know about nationally. Am I saying that correctly? I don’t sense that it has the hatred that is in some other rivalries I’ve been a part of. Nonetheless, I think its intense. I’ll find out. I’m not big on hate. I’m big on that this game means so much to so many people so we should compete in a way out of love for our people. Not necessarily for hate to other people. That’s kind of the way I operate. I hope we compete because we love Auburn and it means something to the Auburn people to compete against Georgia. That’ll be my approach. Love is a great motivator for me.”
Will there be more RPO or play action?
“We love play action. The week before we were very productive in the RPO game. This week we threw zero RPO’s. That is not something I am happy about. I probably am where I am today because I brought the RPO game to this conference or one of the first people would say. That sounded bad. I don’t want to sound like I created the RPO world or anything. But I do think I was one of the first to bring it to this game with tempo. We have gotten away from that. I do not really understand that. We have got to figure out our identity. Who we really are and what can Payton do? What can Robby do? What can Holden do? I know people do not want to hear it. They want success now and to win every single game. I get all of that. This is not my first rodeo taking over a program that has struggled. Certainly not at all fazed. Hungrier than ever to move forward and get better, and we will. Some of that is going to help with recruiting. In the meantime, you’ve got to get the ones you have better. That is our job. For us to be all over the map, one week you throw effectively and the next week we don’t. Why? We have to figure that out.”
How many recruits will be in town this weekend?
“I do not know if we will have enough tickets for all of the recruits that want to come. I am glad I am not having to deal with that. Recruiting staff is working diligently. We have official visits; we have top kids here unofficially. It will be all hands on deck, Auburn putting their best foot forward, which I know we will. Our people are incredible. Our place is incredible to watch a game. Now we have to make sure they see what Auburn is really about.”
On the success of Georgia head coach Kirby Smart
“I played Kirby his first year (at Georgia) when I was still at Ole Miss. I know kind of what he inherited because I coached in that game. I know what the outcome was. It is a great testament to his vision, his work ethic, his staff, his administration being patient to have the year he needed to, to recruit. The dividends are paying off greatly. They are one of the gold standards in college football right now. They are recruiting a top-three class every single year. That is hard to compete with and they are well coached. You have to give them credit. I know it’s a rivalry game, but the truth is the truth. He has built a dang good football program there. It means a lot of things. It means he has the support from the administration and the fans.”
Building a successful program
“I don’t get to decide that. The good thing is I don’t worry about that anymore. I used to but I am older now. I am comfortable in the way that we are building this program and mentoring young people and teaching them the lessons that football teaches for life. The wins will come; I believe that firmly. Whatever people’s patience level is, I can’t control that so I can’t worry about it, and I really don’t worry about it. I worry about the people in this building and our administration. I worry about our fans too, but I can’t control their patience level. If I can be really candid, I think that it is kind of ridiculous that those are already discussions that in and around our kids. It’s not something we worry about, but they should expect us to improve. That’s a reasonable expectation and I think our kids have played hard. I’ll let the other people that really matter decide their patience level. I know that there’s a lot of programs that have taken three to four to five years to get where they are now. They’re probably happy that they did that. But everybody has to decide their own feelings on that, and I can’t worry about that.”
How involved is he in gameplanning and playcalling?
“I don’t get to decide that. The good thing is I don’t worry about that anymore. I used to but I am older now. I am comfortable in the way that we are building this program and mentoring young people and teaching them the lessons that football teaches for life. The wins will come; I believe that firmly. Whatever people’s patience level is, I can’t control that so I can’t worry about it, and I really don’t worry about it. I worry about the people in this building and our administration. I worry about our fans too, but I can’t control their patience level. If I can be really candid, I think that it is kind of ridiculous that those are already discussions that in and around our kids. It’s not something we worry about, but they should expect us to improve. That’s a reasonable expectation and I think our kids have played hard. I’ll let the other people that really matter decide their patience level. I know that there’s a lot of programs that have taken three to four to five years to get where they are now. They’re probably happy that they did that. But everybody has to decide their own feelings on that, and I can’t worry about that.”
Is there an "Eugene Asante" of the offense?
“We’re searching truthfully, that was one of the things. I think we have to get more swagger on the offensive side. The most positive guy by far at this point is Luke Deal. I think he’s the one that has a good grasp on how this league plays out, and how challenging they are for 60 minutes, and how you can have three bad possessions in a row. We’re not the only ones that have those. Yet, you have to maintain this positive attitude that the next one could be the one that matters. He’s definitely been that for the offensive side.”
The message to the team each week
“That’s a balancing act. I’m always truthful with our team. I tell them every Monday and our truth meeting this afternoon. This game, you’re the favorite, you should win it. This game is a toss-up. You’ll be the underdog, and here is how we’re going to win it. I’ve done that everywhere I’ve ever been. I think it creates transparency and authenticity. At the same time, I tell them to be very clear on the fact that I’ve never walked into a game thinking we can’t win it, and they shouldn’t either. I give them plenty of examples that you’re not supposed to take a Liberty team and beat Arkansas either. Or Virginia Tech. Or Ole Miss when we beat Alabama. But we’ve done that, and we can do it here too.”
An effective game plan
“I am trying to remember the other games, but we drove it right down the field the week before (vs. Samford). We did not get it in the end zone and threw it on the first and second down, then we had a penalty. I don’t know that we had another possession in the first quarter in that game that I can remember, because we went right down the field on every possession. Obviously, the game plan, other than the tight red zone, was fine. In this game we rattled off four first downs in the first drive and the second drive the same way. In this game we got in field goal range, and we shot ourselves in the foot with either a penalty or a sack. Maybe we have to evaluate when we need to go to more max protection, so we will have to look at that. We should have had points in the first quarter, but we didn’t. That has got to get fixed.”
