Auburn coach Hugh Freeze spoke confidently about the Tigers 2025 roster during SEC media days.
With promises of being in the College Football Playoff discussion, Freeze’s words might have struck a member of the media harder than expected.
“Our roster is just better,” Freeze said Tuesday. “We’re bigger, we’re faster, we’re stronger. Our culture is strong. Our chemistry and carryover in coaching is here for a second consecutive year, and most of our locker room is bought into the standard to which we think it will take for us to win football games.”
In the annual SEC Media Days preseason poll, the Texas Longhorns were picked to win the conference with 96 total votes.
Eleven different teams got votes to win the SEC championship with Auburn grabbing just one vote.
But, why?
Auburn finished eleventh in the Media Days preseason poll, despite having a roster filled with a notable transfer portal haul and two top 10 recruiting classes.
The Tigers haven’t won more than six games in a season since 2019 and is 11-14 in the Freeze era.
Now we have seen crazy turnaround seasons in sports. Just look at Indiana and Arizona State who made surprise CFB playoff runs last season. However, giving Auburn a first-place vote is beyond bold.
Here’s what else stood out in the SEC Media Days preseason poll.
Was Georgia Snubbed because of Arch Manning hype?
Georgia was the media’s pick last year and won the conference title that December. The Bulldogs placed second in this year’s poll with 44 total first place votes.
Yes, Georgia lost 13 players to the NFL draft. But. Who did Georgia sweep in regular season and the conference title game last year?
Texas.
This season the Texas will travel to Athens for its matchup with Georgia. Another primetime game for the world to see if the Arch Manning hype is indeed real.
Beyond Manning, the Longhorns have plenty of reasons on their roster to justify the preseason adulation.
Texas also returns 12 starters from last season, including All-American linebacker Anthony Hill Jr., freshman All-American edge rusher Colin Simmons and safety Michael Taaffe.
Could the Alabama football doubters please stand up?
Alabama finished third in the poll with 29 first place votes.
In previous years the Crimson Tide were picked to win the SEC in 2014 and 2016-2022. All of those under arguably under the greatest college football coach of all-time.
But it’s still Alabama.
With a roster built on elite young talent like Ryan Williams, Zabien Brown, mixed with vets such as Deontae Lawson, Kadyn Proctor, and more. Alabama will have the same high-quality athletes, this season and beyond.
It might be one of the last times Alabama is this low in a preseason media poll.
Jerry Humphrey III covers Auburn sports forAL.com. You can follow him on X at @Jerryhump3or email him at JHumphreyIII@al.com.
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