AUBURN—Whether at Auburn or at Liberty, Hugh Freeze never wavered in his confidence that Hank Brown could get the job done at the college level as a high-level quarterback.
Brown was previously committed to Freeze, and now quarterbacks coach Kent Austin, at Liberty. So, when Freeze took the Auburn job just two weeks before signing day in December 2022, he knew the guy he wanted to bring along with him to help rebuild the Auburn program.
“I wasn’t big on taking any of Liberty’s players,” Freeze said on the transition between the two jobs. “But he certainly was not there yet and had not signed. And we were looking for a quarterback in that class, and of the one, you know we probably had, what two weeks when I got here before signing day? And just the familiarity and comfortability with him and knowing who he was and how he was going to go about working kind of made it an easy sale for me to try to convince him to do this.”
Freeze began recruiting Brown early in his school career, as a 10th grader when Brown didn’t even start for his high school team, as he noticed his skillset in some camps. But it wasn’t until Brown put on tape his senior year that Freeze pulled the trigger and offered him a spot at Liberty.
“Really it picked up when he started putting tape together his senior year, and we decided probably halfway through that season, he was the guy we wanted,” Freeze said. “And that’s when it really picked up for sure.”
Now at Auburn, both have developed a unique relationship on and off the field. That has instilled a high level of confidence in the redshirt freshman to see the vision that his coaches have had for him since high school.
“It’s just a blessing. I continue to say that” Brown said. “I’ve been recruited by him from Liberty, and then obviously now, here at Auburn, and being able to play for him, it’s so cool. Because, you know, he’s seen this vision the whole time. I think both of us have, and so just being able to fully see it through and be able to just play for him and grow together.”
That vision is now on full display with Brown holding the keys to the offense after three weeks into the season. Brown, who got his first collegiate start against New Mexico, is now getting ready for the gauntlet of SEC play with Arkansas coming to Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday and is ready to build off of his four-touchdown performance in his debut.
“Yeah, I’m really looking forward to it,” Brown said. “It’s definitely an uptick in competition and they’re definitely going to be a better defense than what we faced last week, but, you know,I’m excited for it.”
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email logan.fowler@1819News.com.
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