2025 hasn’t been the best year for Hugh Freeze in terms of his health. The Auburn Tigers head coach is fighting a battle against prostate cancer. But that did not give him any excuse to hit the ‘REST’ button, taking time off from his head coaching duties. Rather, Coach Freeze has got this ‘give me what you got’ kind of attitude. More so than ever. After all, in this season, he has to write a success story. The foundation stones were laid in their A-Day spring practice on Saturday, April 12, at the Jordan Hare Stadium. Auburn fans were lucky enough to witness their quarterback Deuce Knight in action, but for Jackson Arnold‘s fans, it came with heartbreak. Now, it’s important for them to get clarity on Freeze’s take on the QB situation. That’s when the head coach faced the media.

Well, the first times are always special. During this A-Day, Knight got his first taste of playing in Jordan-Hare Stadium. With Arnold sidelined nursing a minor injury, he was the one who got blessed with the starting role. And we can say he made the most out of it by impressing the head coach. Honestly, the fans didn’t have to wait for the A-Day to find out Freeze’s inclination towards Knight. Using his head coaching experience for so many years, Marcus Freeman was able to find a similarity between the quarterback and the Green Bay Packers star, Malik Willis. Analyst Lindsay Crosby also sounded an alarm on how there is no doubt that Arnold will be the hero, but there will be times when Knight would claim the spotlight.

“If I say there legitimately could be a like a legit quarterback competition in spring and in fall like obviously Jackson Arnold’s the favorite but there is a world where Deuce Knight just looks fantastic and gets into the conversation,” said Crosby. So, it’s time for the true freshman to show up. During the spring practice, he committed multiple throws. Plus, he connected with star wide receivers Cam Coleman, Perry Thompson, and Horatio Fields for touchdowns throughout the A-Day practices. Slicing and dicing the defense for much of Saturday, he wooed Freeze, as always. On April 12, during the press conference, the HC shared his take. “He threw a couple late picks in the skelly period, he hasn’t done that all spring.”

The HC continued, “He hadn’t thrown the ball late, he has a real good instinct when the pocket is collapsing to keep his eyes downfield and extend plays and then either throw away or run.” Until now, Knight had Jackson by his side, taking care of the pigskin. Thus, as Freeze described, “that was a little out of character for him.” The highlight of the true freshman’s A-Day feat? One of his touchdowns to Coleman during 7-on-7. Well, he wasn’t perfect. But he did enough to make Freeze proud, managing to complete six or seven passes in a row at one point during the full team sessions.

“I thought he made some really nice throws putting the ball. We talk about all the time, trust our receivers, and put the ball in the position for them to make a play. There was some three or four in that skelly period that were just really nice throws,” Freeze sounded all confident. At the end of the day, this is already more than what the head coach had expected from a player who should still just be a senior in high school. Now, what about Arnold? 

Hugh Freeze plays it safe with Jackson Arnold

Already, this season’s A-Day has been a victim of minimization. All thanks to their decision to go from being a televised spring game to a non-televised practice. But even then, the Auburn fans must have been eager to witness some Jackson magic on the gridiron. Sadly, for that, they will have to wait a little longer. On Thursday, April 10th’s practice, he was spotted leaving the practice early, pulling up with what appeared to be a left hamstring injury. And Freeze did not want to take any risk. Now, what’s the latest update?

Freeze told the media, “I thought he had a really solid spring, and he’s feeling fine. He just didn’t need to run today and risk. There’s no defect in the hamstring. You certainly don’t want to create one with one day left, going into an offseason that he needs to be ready to go. So, no need in risking that same thing with Eric Singleton, you know.” Yes, other than Arnold, Eric Singleton Jr., who Freeze added from Georgia Tech this offseason, did not participate Saturday. The reason? The injury gods poured their blessings.

This spring season, Hugh Freeze’s biggest foe has been the injury. Other than quarterback Jackson Arnold and wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr., there are a couple of other players who have yet to get their fitness certificates. They are cornerback Champ Anthony, defensive Keldric Faulk, and offensive linemen Xavier Chaplin and Connor Lew. However, now that Deuce Knight has proved himself in Arnold’s absence, does that make the latter’s future slippery?