- ABC News
- August 3, 2023
Auburn first-year coach Hugh Freeze opened preseason camp on Thursday with a lingering sense of doubt because of all the new players who weren't with the team during the spring, including eight transfers. "It makes me feel a little bit anxious that I may bee behind in our evaluation of who we are and what we can do," Freeze told reporters. "Maybe we are. That's a feeling I have to battle." Freeze believes that aggressively rebuilding the roster like they did throughout the offseason was "the right thing." But now, he said, they have to "hurry up and catch up." Among the late additions is former Michigan State quarterback Payton Thorne, who is expected to compete for the starting job. "This is the most uncomfortable fall camp I'm going into and it's because of this new world [of roster turnover]," Freeze said. "We had players we added after spring ball, and one's a quarterback and I haven't coached him a single practice and everyone's asking, 'What do you think?'...