Hugh Freeze would rather talk about how much he likes his team. Good!

At the end of a rough summer, Auburn football wants to pivot the conversation toward what it hopes will be a much better fall.

(Austin Perryman/Auburn Tigers)

ATLANTA — When Hugh Freeze takes the podium at SEC Media Days on Tuesday, he’s going to get asked questions he probably doesn’t want to answer.

That’s true for any head coach in that position — go back to the days when Les Miles tried to name every single player on his roster in his opening statement — but it’ll be especially true for Freeze heading into his third season at Auburn.

Freeze will be asked why Auburn’s 2026 recruiting class currently sits at No. 78 in the country on the 247Sports Composite, which is two spots behind Miami… Ohio.

Freeze will be asked to go further on his recent comments, along with athletic director John Cohen, about how he feels that Auburn is handling the new NIL landscape in light of the revenue-sharing system “the right way.”

And somebody might try to take a shot or two at the amount of golf Freeze plays.

So that’s why, by the time Auburn gets done going through the car wash at the College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday, you’re going to hear the Tigers talk a lot about why they believe in this year’s team.

“You're going to hear me say this a lot (Tuesday): I like our roster,” Freeze told Auburn media members on Monday night before an Ambush alumni event in Atlanta.

When it comes to the discourse on Auburn football, Freeze and his team want there to be a pivot.

That’s quite fitting, considering how this upcoming season must be a pivot for the program as a whole.

At the moment, there aren’t a lot of positives when it comes to the current, prevailing mainstream narratives surrounding Auburn football.

That shouldn’t be surprising. After all, the Tigers have had four straight losing seasons. They are 10-22 in SEC play during that stretch. They haven’t been ranked at any point in the last three years.

But here’s the thing: No matter what negative you look at when it comes to the current state of Auburn football — whether it’s the recruiting slump or the hotly debated financial strategy — the only thing that will change the program for the better is winning.

And, the closer and closer we get to the start of Freeze’s third season on the Plains, the more that becomes oh-so-clear.