< Previous20 STATS COMPARISONS AUBURNTIGERS.COM AUBURN STATS LEADERS RUSHING ATT NET AVG TD LONG AVG/G Jarquez Hunter 132 913 6.9 5 50 101.4 Damari Alston 45 247 5.5 2 36 27.4 Payton Thorne 84 176 2.1 2 31 22.0 PASSING CMP-ATT-INT PCT YDS TD AVG/G Payton Thorne 134-213-7 62.9 1,825 13 228.1 Hank Brown 27-43-3 62.8 403 6 100.8 RECEIVING NO. YDS AVG TD LONG AVG/G KeAndre Lambert-Smith 34 657 19.3 7 67 73.0 Malcolm Simmons 28 349 12.5 2 57 38.8 Cam Coleman 15 292 19.5 2 47 36.5 DEFENSE UA A TOT TFL-YDS SACKS-YDS Dorian Mausi 39 19 58 7.0-19 1.5-10 Jerrin Thompson 31 13 44 2.0-15 1.0-14 Keldric Faulk 26 10 36 9.0-56 7.0-49 ULM STATS LEADERS RUSHING ATT NET AVG TD LONG AVG/G Ahmad Hardy 164 915 5.6 9 80 101.7 James Jones 65 291 4.5 1 24 36.4 Taven Curry 30 143 4.8 0 15 17.9 PASSING CMP-ATT-INT PCT YDS TD AVG/G Aidan Armenta 70-122-6 57.4 898 7 99.8 General Booty 28-53-2 52.8 241 1 40.2 RECEIVING NO. YDS AVG TD LONG AVG/G Davon Wells 24 232 9.7 2 51 25.8 Jake Godfrey 16 199 12.4 1 57 22.1 Javon Campbell 8 176 22.0 1 44 25.1 DEFENSE UA A TOT TFL-YDS SACKS-YDS Wydett Williams Jr. 38 36 74 2.5-8 1.0-6 Carl Glass Jr. 27 41 68 0.5-7 0.5-7 Carl Fauntroy 23 29 52 1.0-3 0.0-0 Here is a quick look at the top team statistics for the Tigers and the Warhawks. . Quick Look n Total Touchdowns 3023 n Rushing Yards 1,5171,549 n Passing Yards 2,2611,158 STATS COMPARISONSTickets 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 Look beyond the veteran names on an Auburn defense that ranks in the Top 25 nationally in seven statistical categories and you will find several Auburn freshmen learning while doing at the highest level of on-the-job instruction. The Tigers, allowing just 314.4 total yards and 19.2 points per game, have had a few outstanding contributions from play- ers who have yet to become household names. “I’ve grown into being able to process what the offense is doing and just pro- cessing college football in general,” says safety Sylvester Smith, who has worked his way into a starting role, contributing 21 tackles and a big 33-yard interception against Arkansas that announced his ar- rival on the scene. “It’s been a wonderful thing to learn more and more each week, just knowing the situations of where the ball might be here and in terms of what they can do from there. I love all the knowledge we’re getting.” “It’s making me more competitive, be- ing around people at your talent level ev- ery day and people who are smarter than you,” adds cornerback JC Hart, who has gained key experience in the secondary and on special teams this season. “You don’t grow if you’re not around people better than you.” “The film study is key, and getting used to the speed of the game,” cornerback Kensley Louidor-Faustin says. “That’s been such a difference from high school.” That difference is noticeable to all the freshmen. “I’ve grown and changed a lot,” line- backer Demarus Riddick, who has added 19 tackles and two TFL this season. “In high school football, I didn’t know how to study the game but when I got here, I got taught a lot about football. Knowing I could learn and master all that has given me a lot of confidence as a football player and as a student.” “It really has matured me because I look at it as a career path and not just a game anymore,” defensive lineman Malik Blocton, who shows 11 tackles and three TFL this year. “I know that this is how I want to feed my family, so it really has matured me to take it seriously.” Safety Kaleb Harris, who has 26 tack- les and three pass breakups to his credit, agrees. “This is helping me mature more COVER FEATURE BY: SHELLEY POE FUTURE FORWARD: THE DEFENSECommitted 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 than I could have guessed. There are some things I still have to work on mentally – you can still tell I have my freshman mistakes -- but I have learned how to work.” And now that their freshman season is almost over, what’s been the best part of the whole experience? “Just being part of this team – this team has really good people and we’ve got a lot coming in the future,” says cornerback A’mon Lane-Ganus. “Sticking together as we work through hard times has been spe- cial.” “I think the best part has been every- thing we’re learning from the older guys,” Harris adds. “They teach you a lot, because they’ve been in college for a couple years and that experience gets passed down.” “My favorite part of playing college football is just being out here with all the guys, with my brothers,” Riddick says. “That’s the best part about it.” “I think the best part is playing for a team that so many people support,” says Hart, a Loachapoka native. “So many kids look up to this brand – I’ve really been rep- resenting the brand my whole life because I’ve been an Auburn fan forever.” And game day at Jordan-Hare Stadium is at the heart of what makes Auburn foot- ball special. “Running out the tunnel and seeing all the fans yelling is my favorite part, and experiencing all that with my teammates,” Blocton says. “The competition we get to play against every single Saturday is tops, and those teams coming to our stadium has been awesome,” Louidor-Faustin adds. “To be honest, I think the best part is the environment,” defensive lineman Amaris Williams says. “The fans at the games at Jordan-Hare Stadium are the best. “The energy from all the people when we’re about to get a stop – the crowd and all of that brings chills to your body. It makes you want to become aggressive and play your hardest.” “I say the best thing is the fans, and also the atmosphere of the stadiums where we play, how the Auburn people are ev- erywhere,” cornerback Jay Crawford, who leads the team with seven pass breakups and had an interception at Kentucky, ex- plains. “You only get to go through college one time so you might as well make the best of it. We’re doing that.” 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 >