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Why Auburn football's Hugh Freeze is struggling to evaluate Robby Ashford at spring practice

Richard Silva, Montgomery Advertiser
·4 min read
10

AUBURN — Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze remembers going into fall camp in 2020.

It was the start of his second season at Liberty and the first with quarterback Malik Willis on the roster. Willis transferred from the Tigers to the Flames in 2019 but had to sit out for a season due to transfer rules that once existed. By the time Liberty's first game came around against Western Kentucky, Freeze had no idea what to expect from his new QB.

But then Willis ripped off a couple big runs and tossed a a few darts against the Hilltoppers. His final stat line had him at over 300 total yards with three touchdowns, including an 18-yard scoring run to put the Flames on top by two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

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Freeze knew then he had his guy. But that's the problem with quarterbacks who have a knack for using their legs and extending plays; it's nearly impossible to evaluate at practice when the plays are being blown dead as soon as the quarterback tucks the ball to run.

That's the issue Freeze is running into at Auburn with Robby Ashford, who rushed for 710 yards and seven touchdowns in 2022.

“A great question," Freeze said Monday when asked how he can assess Ashford's full repertoire at practice. "I don’t know. I don’t say that to be funny. ... I haven't witnessed him in the games. I've seen the tapes and stuff, but I think it's very hard to evaluate just how good he can be practicing the way we do, so it's just hard for me to answer."

Ashford and T.J. Finley have been going back and forth with the first and second groups during pace periods this spring. At practice March 13, it was Finley with the ones. A week later, Ashford was back in the saddle.

Freeze insists every player, including the three scholarship quarterbacks on campus − Ashford, Finley and Holden Geriner − will be getting equal opportunities through A-Day.

"We won't narrow down the reps in spring," Freeze said Feb. 27. "We will in fall. We have to. But in spring we won't. ... There is no depth chart. I don't care what group you trot out with on the field right now; I don't have in my mind that this is a first-team, a second-team, a third-team guy. ...

"But (I) really just believe that everybody's going to get equal reps in the spring and (we're going to) develop some depth, at least, before we decide where everybody is in the pecking order of depth charts."

Freeze has seen a bit of everything working with different quarterbacks throughout his career. By his own admission, former Ole Miss QB Bo Wallace was not a good practice player, but he led the Rebels to three straight bowl games from 2012-14. He also helped Freeze beat Alabama in 2014 on the way to a nine-win season.

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And then there was Chad Kelly, who picked up for the next two seasons after Wallace left. Kelly performed well in practice, and the play translated on the field. Ole Miss won 10 games in 2015 and once again took down Nick Saban's Crimson Tide.

If it's up to Freeze, he'll experience some deja vu and get flashbacks of Willis in 2020 when the Tigers take the field against UMass on Sept. 2 to start the season.

But that's only if Ashford is named the starter.

"Quarterbacks should be making the correct decision, if he's going to be your guy, 85-95% of the time," Freeze said Monday. "And then you judge the execution, and then you start knowing who your quarterback is based off those. Right now, we're having too many of the eyes in the wrong spot, and the decision-making isn't what it's supposed to be."

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: Hugh Freeze struggling to evaluate Auburn football QB Robby Ashford