Everything we saw and heard on Day 1 of Auburn fall camp

Here's a first look at Perry Thompson, a sneak peek at an early depth chart and the players who caught our eye the most Thursday.

(Austin Perryman/Auburn Tigers)

Hugh Freeze sounds more than ready to get Year 2 going.

On Thursday morning, just before he stepped onto the field for the first practice of his second fall camp as Auburn’s head football coach, Freeze was asked plenty of times about the various ways the Tigers could improve from a losing 2023 campaign.

“Well, I don't want to talk about last year anymore, truthfully,” Freeze said in a response to a question about the struggles that Auburn had throwing the ball, particularly in the area of run-pass options (RPOs). “Again, I want it to be on my shoulders. It was my fault.”

Freeze called the 2024 season “kind of like a restart,” as he felt like he didn’t get “much done” in the areas of program culture, team chemistry and strategic systems.

“It’s one that I’m really excited about, because of the chemistry I sense right now with the staff and the confidence that I see in the players right now, when they walk around,” Freeze said.

A big reason for that excitement is the familiarity Freeze has with the people in the program heading into his second campaign.

Last year at this time, Auburn was plugging in another wave of transfers who didn’t go through spring ball — including the Tigers’ eventual starting quarterback (Payton Thorne) and leading pass-rusher (Jalen McLeod). Both of those leaders are back for 2024, along with a large number of returning players and assistant coaches.

There have been changes, of course. But most of them happened during the spring. Only a few second-window transfers were added to the team, and only a few members of the highly rated 2024 signing class weren’t early enrollees.

Instead of a ton of newness, there’s a sense of familiarity and stability inside the football complex that just wasn’t there for much of 2023.

“I think they know me, know our system, know our culture better,” Freeze said. “Hopefully, they're more hungry to have more success and more consistency. We were in some really good games last year, but the consistency was not there from week to week, game to game, practice to practice.

“Ultimately, that comes down to either coaching or the culture, or a combination. You have to start with the coaching and see what I can do better, what the staff can do better — then look to the team for the culture. Hopefully, that's where we've made strides for Year 2.”

The question is if that can lead to a much-needed step forward on the field this fall.

Auburn’s second fall under Freeze and his staff got underway Thursday morning. Media members were able to watch more than an hour of practice.

Here’s everything we saw and heard. We’ll run another one of these newsletters Friday, after another practice viewing and our first set of player interviews.

WR Perry Thompson (Justin Ferguson/Auburn Observer)

Perry Thompson definitely looks the part

Auburn’s spring practices were headlined by Cam Coleman Mania, as the 5-star true freshman stood out from the first set of drills all the way to his Offensive MVP performance in the A-Day Game.

Of the select few freshmen who weren’t early enrollees, the biggest name for a lot of Tigers fans is Perry Thompson — another elite 2024 receiver who was oh-so-close to having composite 5-star status like Coleman.

Thompson will have to work hard to get on the field early. He and Malcolm Simmons are the only freshmen wideouts who weren’t at Auburn during spring practices, and the arrival of former Penn State No. 1 receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith will make the competition for playing time even tougher out wide.

During practice Thursday, Thompson lined up as the third flanker, behind Lambert-Smith and returning contributor Caleb Burton III. But Auburn got him plenty of reps, as he rotated in with several different offensive units in drills against air and drills against a defense.