The pressure cooker situation is real for Auburn. There prevails a Natty drought of 15 years in Hugh Freeze’s squad. But so what? Both Freeze and his Tigers refuse to let the pressure crack their spirit. A few days back, defensive lineman transfer Chris Murray spread a threat with his fiery statement. “I love the family and atmosphere. I want the atmosphere to explode and be crazy. I’m ready for it. I want to live the underdog story and prove everybody wrong,” said Murray.

Turns out that this fiery spirit is infectious. And now, another player from Freeze’s squad is stirring fear for his rivals with his bold speech. That’s none other than Auburn running back, Damari Alston. He comes with a ‘don’t mess with us’ warning

On August 15, Auburn insider for On3, Justin Hokanson, tweeted, “Damari Alston is a real one. Good player, better person.” It consists of a clip of Alston’s interview. In that video, Freeze’s running back shared, “I knew about what I was getting into, and I knew I want to change the narrative here at Auburn. And that’s still the goal for me, really bring that legacy and bring Auburn back to what we supposed to be because we got everything that we need and I’m just excited about.”

Talking about experience? Alston played behind Jarquez Hunter for the last two years and Tank Bigsby for one year. All these years, he has been used as a change-of-pace running back since he arrived at Freeze’s camp in 2022. Last season was all about Alston’s misses by a hair’s breadth. For instance, in the Tigers’ face-off against Arkansas, he raged the gridiron by taking the handoff on his first snap and racing up the sideline. Freeze’s running back took more chances in hitting another gear. But poor Alston! As he approached the goal line, the pigskin got stripped. Did he give up?

No way. This sour experience made Freeze’s running back into a stronger player, as in each of the next two games, Alston came up with carries of 10 or more yards.

The running back continued, “I’m getting excited every day. Just to really lay it on the line with my brothers. Like Auburn, this is a real family here. I don’t really think I can get this nowhere else.” And finally, Alston’s payback time to Freeze has come. With Hunter off to the NFL, he is expected to take the lead with 2025 being his last year in college football and first year starting. Meanwhile, looks like there is one more member other than Murray and Alston who has signed up in Freeze’s Fierce Boys Club.

Hugh Freeze’s hungry Tiger makes a bold pledge amidst the offensive struggles

Lucky Freeze! After all, his program not only possesses the talent to produce a winning season, but it also has players who share a desire to win. Running back Durell Robinson must be in his first season, but nervousness does not exist in his syllabus. He transferred to Freeze’s squad in the off-season from UConn, but he has already earned the trust of being one of the most driven players.

Freeze’s squad wrapped up their practice on August 14 at the Woltosz Football Performance Center. That’s when Robinson faced the media. Being unknown to the Auburn fanbase’s lofty passion, the running back is not feeling overwhelmed. Instead, he is turning the tension into a motivation to push harder. He shared, “I would really die on that field if it came to that. If I have to die on that field to get us a win, I would do that.” While the running back room is running high on energy to threaten the rivals, one of Freeze’s units is running has hit stagnancy.

Hokanson tweeted his update from the Auburn practice camp. He wrote on X, “Auburn scrimmaged again today. Here are notes from sources in attendance. Let’s just say the defense thoroughly dominated. The D-line was really good. The O-line? Not so much.” Now, this is enough to rob Freeze of his goodnight’s sleep. Already, the Tigers are carrying the burden of a faulty offense that ranked as low as No.71 in 2024. But how is Auburn coping with improvement?

Below average. First things first, timing has been a glaring issue for Hugh Freeze’s offense. But the most concerning part has been Jackson Arnold and his wobbly passing game. Maybe Freeze can see his dark past with the quarterbacks flashing in front of his eyes and his Arnold dream falling down like a house of cards. This time, he could not hide his frustration and was seen losing his cool at Arnold during the practice. The video that went viral caught Freeze saying, “God almighty, man…it ain’t that dang hard,” as he slammed his visor to the ground. Time for him to inject some energy into the offense.