Hugh Freeze says people attacking Auburn football players 'need to get a life'
AUBURN — As the assembled reporters rose to gather their belongings following Auburn football's press conference, coach Hugh Freeze requested they sit back down so that he could get one last message across.
"I want to say one more thing: Everybody will point to the last plays and DJ (James) and Koy (Moore) and everything," the coach said Monday. "But there are other plays in that game, too, that make a difference, so it's not just those two for those kids. Obviously, they're magnified because of the time of which it was in, but we could've put it away with another TD down on the 5-yard line, too, (in the fourth quarter).
"I thought Payton (Thorne) threw a heck of a ball there, and it hit our guy right in the face mask. We've got to make that play. It's not just those two young men and those two plays or the coaching decisions on those two plays. We had other chances, too, in that game."
'IT STINKS': The steps that led to Auburn football unraveling in Iron Bowl against Alabama
'IT'S DEEPER': How Auburn football players are grappling with devastating Iron Bowl loss to Alabama
Alabama faced a fourth-and-goal from the 31-yard line with less than a minute remaining in the game. Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe dialed up a perfect ball to Isaiah Bond, who hauled in that throw over the head of James. James was also part of a long touchdown pass that Auburn gave up just before halftime.
Before the fateful fourth-and-31 conversion, Moore muffed a punt that put Alabama in position to score the go-ahead touchdown.
“I wish I had the words for him," Freeze said of James. "I tried hard. I sat with him at his locker for a while. He and Koy. Texted with him yesterday. It’s just tough. This world can be brutal. I get it on coaches. They’re going to be brutal on me and every decision that I make, good or bad. Everybody’s got the answer and what they would do. I get that for coaches. You hate to see it when young men, who are playing a game, get attacked. I hate that. I think those people are — well, I just think those people need to get a life and a perspective.
"No one hurt more than Koy and DJ. And, truthfully, in the scheme that we were in that play, I know DJ will get all of the criticism, but truthfully there should have been somebody else standing there with him to help him also. It’s not just him, even though he’s feeling the weight of it. He’s feeling the weight of it."
James has been one of Auburn's best players over the last two seasons following his transfer from Oregon in 2021.
"His words at his locker were, ‘Coach, I let you down. I let you down.’ He felt that because of not only that play, but the one right before half when we were up 14-10," Freeze said. "He didn’t get the call and gave them a long TD pass there. He felt the weight of the world on him.
"I just told him we’d get through it: ‘We love you. We’ll get through it together. And somehow in time, if handled right, it makes us stronger.’”
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football's Hugh Freeze sticks up for DJ James, Koy Moore
