Despite the work that [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag] and his staff have done to upgrade Auburn’s roster ahead of the season, he is aware that he has not built it up to an SEC Championship caliber.
When comparing his roster to the rest of the conference, he used typical examples such as Alabama, Georgia, and LSU, suggesting that they have the type of roster that Freeze strives for. He included one more program that has some scratching their heads… Florida.
One of those confused by this example is Pat Dooly, a longtime Florida beat writer and a current writer for Gators Wire.
In his series titled Dooly’s Dozen, Dooly shared his picks for the top 12 topics that were discussed during SEC Media Days. Of those included, Dooly discussed NIL, the chip on Alabama’s shoulder, and Jimbo Fisher’s annoyance towards Bobby Petrino-related questions. He also mentioned the minor detail in Freeze’s roster comparison quote.
This was a quote from the new Auburn coach – “Does our roster look top to bottom like Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Florida, Texas A&M, Ole Miss? I don’t know yet.” I’m not sure I would put Florida’s roster in that grouping. He remembers it when he was last coaching in the SEC.
The Gators have enjoyed recent success by winning 10 games in back-to-back seasons in 2018 and 2019 under Dan Mullen. However, Florida has had consecutive 6-7 campaigns. The trend seems to be going upward for Florida, as the Gators currently have the No. 3 overall recruiting class for the 2024 cycle according to 247Sports, and the No. 2 class in the SEC behind Georgia. Maybe Freeze can have similar success in the recruiting game in year two, similar to the success that Napier is having in his second season in Gainesville.
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