Former Auburn Tigers quarterback Robby Ashford eludes to Hugh Freeze not being honest with him during his time at Auburn. After starring as a quarterback at Hoover High School in Alabama, Ashford traveled west to play for the Oregon Ducks in 2020. Ashford would play for the Ducks for two seasons without seeing any game action, before transferring back home to play for Bryan Harsin and the Auburn Tigers.
After Harsin was fired following the 2022 season, that is when Freeze came to down. Freeze acquired former Michigan State quarterback Payton Thorne out of the transfer portal who ended up winning the starting job, despite Ashford having been on the team the year prior.
Fast forward now to 2024, and Ashford opted to transfer this past offseason to the South Carolina Gamecocks and head coach Shane Beamer and has had some strong words for his former coach, Hugh Freeze.
What did Robby Ashford say about Hugh Freeze?
In an article by Joseph Griffin with www.si.com, Ashford seemed to praise certain coaches like Harsin and Beamer, but omitted Freeze.
“The only true opportunity I’ve gotten from a coach that’s told me it’s going to be a competition and has been is with Bryan Harsin my first year at Auburn,” Ashford said. “I respect him a lot for that. When I listened to Coach Beamer, he had a lot of the same things that, when Harsin told me it was a competition, that he meant it. I heard the same things from Coach Beamer, and I was like ‘okay I believe that.’ Maybe it’s just not smoke being blown in my ears like a lot of coaches like to do.”
Although Ashford could have been eluding to Mario Cristobal instead of, or in addition to Freeze to be fair. Cristobal coached Ashford his first two seasons in Eugene. However, with Ashford being such a young player, it is highly doubtful that the coach he was eluding to “smoke being blown in my ears” was Cristobal. The only other coach that leaves is Freeze.
Why did Robby Ashford eluded to Hugh Freeze not being honest with him?
No one can really know why Ashford eluded to freeze blowing smoke in his comments as we were not part of conversations that may have been had. However, Ashford did have chances on the field to show what he could do in live game action for the Tigers in 2023.
Freeze not only had Ashford play on certain packages, but start during the Ole Miss game at quarterback this past season for the Tigers. In that game, Ashford 3 for 4 passing for 22 yards and ran the ball eight times for 27 yards.
Ashford was also used a lot throughout the season in package situations, primarily as a runner for the Tigers. He accounted for five rushing touchdowns on the season in fact.
These numbers were hardly worthy of keeping Ashford at quarterback long-term. So for Ashford to come out against his former coach with this type of comment seems a bit out of line here.