< Previous20 STATS COMPARISONS AUBURNTIGERS.COM AUBURN STATS LEADERS RUSHING ATT NET AVG TD LONG AVG/G Jarquez Hunter 48 340 7.1 2 34 85.0 Damari Alston 18 140 7.8 2 36 35.0 Payton Thorne 24 102 4.3 2 31 34.0 PASSING CMP-ATT-INT PCT YDS TD AVG/G Payton Thorne 40-70-5 57.1 700 7 233.3 Hank Brown 27-43-3 62.8 403 6 134.3 RECEIVING NO. YDS AVG TD LONG AVG/G KeAndre Lambert-Smith 12 338 28.2 5 67 84.5 Malcolm Simmons 10 153 15.3 1 57 38.3 Cam Coleman 6 130 21.7 1 44 43.3 DEFENSE UA A TOT TFL-YDS SACKS-YDS Jerrin Thompson 17 5 22 1.0-14 1.0-14 Jalen McLeod 16 4 20 6.5-33 2.0-14 Dorian Mausi 14 6 20 3.0-10 1.0-7 OKLAHOMA STATS LEADERS RUSHING ATT NET AVG TD LONG AVG/G Jackson Arnold 41 138 3.4 2 47 34.5 Jovantae Barnes 39 138 3.5 1 17 34.5 Taylor Tatum 18 116 6.4 2 35 29.0 PASSING CMP-ATT-INT PCT YDS TD AVG/G Jackson Arnold 61-102-3 59.8 538 7 134.5 Michael Hawkins Jr. 13-22-0 59.1 149 1 74.5 RECEIVING NO. YDS AVG TD LONG AVG/G Deion Burks 26 201 7.7 3 20 50.3 Bauer Sharp 14 116 8.3 1 15 29.0 Brenen Thompson 8 76 9.5 1 33 19.0 DEFENSE UA A TOT TFL-YDS SACKS-YDS Danny Stutsman 21 15 36 1.5-2 0.0-0 Robert Spears-Jennings 20 9 29 2.5-10 1.0-9 Kip Lewis 9 7 16 0.5-0 0.0-0 Sammy Omosigho 8 8 16 2.5-5 0.0-0 Here is a quick look at the top team statistics for the Tigers and Sooners. Quick Look n Total Touchdowns 2014 n Rushing Yards 712513 n Passing Yards 1,136685Tickets available now! featuring Herbie Hancock • Borromeo String Quartet • The Piano Guys The Magic School Bus • Dear Evan Hansen • Straight No Chaser • Black Violin Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of The Temptations • and many more 2024–25 season22 COVER FEATURE AUBURNTIGERS.COM Jarquez Hunter wasted no time in- troducing himself to Auburn fans, rush- ing for more than 100 yards in each of his first two games as a true freshman in 2021 while producing the longest run in program history, a 94-yard touchdown burst against Alabama State. “That’s my favorite run,” said Hunter, three years later. In his fourth season, Hunter has com- piled nine 100-yard games, including 152 yards against New Mexico this sea- son, his second-highest outing behind a 183-yard performance against Vander- bilt last season. Entering Saturday’s showdown with No. 21 Oklahoma, Hunter ranks 12th with 2,512 career rushing yards at Auburn, having already ascended six spots on the rankings in just four games this season. Back home in Mississippi over the summer, family members informed Jarquez where he stood and what it would take to join Auburn luminaries such as Ronnie Brown, Tre Mason, Joe Cribbs, James Brooks, former teammate Tank Bigsby and Carnell Williams in the top 10. “It would be very exciting if I can get top five,” Hunter said. “I saw where it was Bo Jackson, Cadillac, and some other great running backs who came through here. It would be so exciting if I can get into the top five or top 10 range.” To overtake Brown for the No. 10 spot, Hunter needs only 196 more rushing yards. To knock Ben Tate out of the top five, Hunter would need to gain 810 more yards this season on top of the 340 he’s amassed in Auburn’s first four games. After rushing for 909 yards a year ago, Hunter entered this season as the SEC’s leading returning rusher. He enters the Oklahoma game ranked second in the conference averaging 7.08 yards per carry and seventh in the SEC averaging 85 rushing yards per game. Hunter’s academic accomplishments are equally impressive. Frequently tak- ing 18 credit hours even during busy fall semesters, he needed only three years to earn his degree in natural resource management from Auburn University’s College of Forestry, Wildlife and Envi- ronment. COVER FEATURE BY: JEFF SHEARER JARQUEZ HUNTER ASCENDS AUBURN CAREER RUSHING RANKSCommitted to playing with purpose. At Alabama Power, we share your passion for gameday and your pride in our community. We celebrate victories on and off the field that move the state forward. For over 100 years, we’ve shown that our collective achievements make us stronger. It’s Power for a Better Alabama. We proudly support the Auburn Tigers. alabamapower.com © 2024 Alabama Power Company24 COVER FEATURE AUBURNTIGERS.COM “It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t that bad,” he said. “When you have time after foot- ball, just look over your notes and your schoolwork, and just get the work done. “If you do your work, the professors will try to help you understand because they know you have a lot going on, as long as you do your work on time. “Graduation day, I was proud of my- self, and I know my family was proud. Nobody can take that away from me. I’ve got an Auburn degree.” A lifelong outdoors enthusiast from Philadelphia, Mississippi, Hunter has yet to decide which career to pursue after professional football, but it likely will not be behind a desk. “Ever since I was little, I would always be outside,” he said. “Playing or helping my grandma work around the house. Outside, always doing something.” Hunter will have an opportunity to display his skills to a national television audience on ABC as well as a sold- out crowd of 88,043 Saturday at Jor- dan-Hare Stadium when the Tigers wel- come the Sooners for their first visit to Auburn. “Another game we’ve got to win,” Hunter said. “We’ve got to showcase for the people watching and tell people we can do this; we can beat people.” Hunter’s 93 touchdowns at Neshoba Central High School broke the school record set four decades earlier by Mar- cus Dupree, who would go on to an All-America freshman season at Okla- homa. Hunter has continued to reach the end zone at Auburn, rushing for 19 career touchdowns while adding four touchdown receptions. After 400 career rushes on the Plains, Hunter has learned the importance of the training room. “The main part of this game is you’ve got to take care of your body,” Hunter said. “Younger players think they can just go out there and play forever and their body won’t hurt, but your body is going to start hurting eventually. You’ve really got to take care of your body and find ev- ery way to stay healthy. “For me, I like to practice hard. If you practice hard, you play hard. If you make practice hard, then the game will seem easy. I try to lead the younger guys by example and show them how hard I practice. If you practice hard, it will show up in the game and you’ll have a good game.” With his cowboy hat during Tiger Walk, his loyalty to Auburn and his elite performance, Hunter has become a fan favorite. “To this day, Auburn fits in great with what I thought it could be,” he said. “I’ve met a lot of awesome people and made a lot of great rela- tionships – everywhere you go it feels like family. Everybody wel- comes you in. I got a chance to finish my degree in three years – I got a great de- gree from Auburn and that will take me a long way other than just playing football. It’s been awesome here at Auburn. It feels like family every time I walk through campus.” With eight games left in his senior season, Jarquez Hunter continues to ce- ment his legacy as one of Auburn’s best running backs, a massive achievement at a school that can make a compelling case for being known as “RBU.” “For me, I’ll try to be a great team- mate,” Hunter said. “I’ll try to be a leader to the team and try to push everybody as much as I push myself. I know I’m going to go hard every day for my teammates, and I want them to do the same thing for me or other people beside them on the field. This is my last year, and I plan to go out and play for one another, go out there and have a special year with my brothers. “I want my teammates to say Jarquez gave his all every time he was at prac- tice and in a game or in workouts. I want them to say he was a great person to be around every day, and he gave it his all.” Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at Au- burnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @ jeff_shearer COVER FEATUREPARTOFTHEFAMILY Y O U R T E A M S . Y O U R T E A M S .Y O U R S T A T I O N S . Y O U R S T A T I O N S . WINGSFM.COM CATCHAUBURNFOOTBALL,MEN’SBASKETBALLANDTIGERTALKONWINGS94.3 ANDAUBURNWOMEN’SBASKETBALLANDBASEBALLONAU100. Auburn-Opelika’sOfficialFlagshipStationsoftheAuburnTigers AU100FM.COM28 HEAD COACH HUGH FREEZE AUBURNTIGERS.COM Hugh Freeze became the 31st head football coach in Auburn history in No- vember, 2022. Freeze has nearly three decades of continued coaching success, including head coaching experience that has led to conference titles, nation- ally ranked recruiting classes and bowl appearances at multiple stops during his highly decorated career. In Freeze’s first season at Auburn, despite a shorthanded roster, the 2023 Tigers posted a 6-7 record and earned a Music City Bowl berth. Every home game was sold out as fans embraced Freeze’s brand of football and Auburn garnered a top 10 recruiting class for the 2024 campaign. Freeze came to Auburn from Liber- ty University, where he was head coach from 2019-22. Freeze led the Flames to four bowl games and a 34-15 record. Freeze experienced similar success at each of his head coaching stops prior to Liberty that include Lambuth Univer- sity (2008-09), Arkansas State (2011) and Ole Miss (2012-16). Freeze led each school to double-digit win seasons, while helping Ole Miss to a top 10 national fin- ish in 2015. His on-field coaching record in 13 seasons is 109-54. Liberty was just one of five FBS teams in the country to win a bowl game each season from 2019-21, joining Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky and Louisiana. It was the second team in NCAA history to win a bowl game during its first three full sea- sons at the FBS level, all coming under Freeze’s leadership. Freeze guided Liberty to a 10-1 overall record in 2020 and the team’s first-ever national ranking as it finished No. 17 in the country. That season, Liberty had the best start in program history (8-0), tied the program record for wins (10) and de- feated two Power 5 programs in Syracuse and Virginia Tech. For his efforts, Freeze was a finalist for the George Munger Col- legiate Coach of the Year Award. Known for his fast-paced offensive style, Freeze’s 2020 Liberty team set a school record for rushing yards in a sea- son in 2020 (2,776) and ranked No. 9 in the country in rushing offense. Liberty also ranked No. 15 nationally in total of- fense (482.7 yards per game) and No. 11 in total defense (317.7 yards per game). The Flames were one of three teams in the country to rank in the top 20 in both total offense and total defense in 2020, joining Clemson and BYU. Spearheading Liberty’s outstand- ing offense in 2020 was former Auburn quarterback Malik Willis, who burst into the spotlight leading the nation in rushing yards (944) and touchdowns (14) by a FBS quarterback. Willis earned All-America honors, was named to the Davey O’Brien Award Quarterback Class of 2020 and was on the 2020 Maxwell Award watch list. The Flames posted an eight-win sea- son in 2021 after facing eight bowl-eli- gible teams during that campaign. Lib- erty’s defense finished the 2021 season ranked No. 7 nationally in passing yards allowed, No. 11 in total defense and No. 24 in scoring defense. Offensively, Lib- erty finished 2021 ranked No. 25 in the country in scoring offense and No. 8 in passing yards per completion. Leading the charge for the Flames in 2021 once again was Willis, who was a semifinalist for the Davey O’Brien Na- tional Quarterback Award and the Max- well Award and a top 10 candidate for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award. Willis was a third-round draft pick of the Ten- nessee Titans in the 2022 NFL Draft. In 2022, Liberty finished the regu- lar season 8-4 with wins over Arkansas and BYU; three of the four losses came by a combined five points. The Flames earned a berth in the Boca Raton Bowl. While head coach at Ole Miss, Freeze took the Rebels to bowl games in three of his five seasons, including wins in the 2013 Music City and the 2016 Sugar bowls. Freeze’s time in Oxford was highlight- ed by a 10-3 campaign in 2015, the pro- gram’s first 10-win season since 2003. The Rebels won their first four games of the 2015 season, including a 43-37 road victory over No. 2 Alabama, Ole Miss’ first win in Tuscaloosa since 1988. The Rebels were ranked as high as No. 3 in the national polls in both 2014 and 2015 and finished in the national Top 10 for the first time since 1969 after the Sugar Bowl win. Ole Miss was ranked in the top 25 for 45 weeks over Freeze’s five-year tenure, including a string of 27 straight weeks in the polls for the first time since 1957-62. Freeze collected four nationally ranked recruiting classes at Ole Miss. In 2013 and 2016, his recruiting classes ranked in the top five nationally, the best in program history. Freeze and his staff developed 20 players who earned all-SEC honors, in- cluding All-Americans Cody Prewitt, Senquez Golson, Robert Nkemdiche, Laremy Tunsil, Evan Engram, Laquon Treadwell and Trae Elston. Treadwell was Ole Miss’ first ever SEC Freshman of the Year in 2013 and became HUGH FREEZE HEAD COACHNext >