How a new rule may change how fast Auburn football's offense moves under Hugh Freeze

For the first time in Hugh Freeze's career as a Division I coach, he'll have the option to speak directly to his quarterback before each play.

Auburn football , along with every other FBS program, will have the choice of using helmet communication in 2024. It's a new rule that was officially adopted in April, approved by the NCAA's Playing Rules Oversight Panel to try and curb the stealing of signals. The change comes on the heels of Michigan's sign-stealing scandal that resulted in Jim Harbaugh getting suspended for three games last season.

The Tigers had the option to test drive the communication technology during their bowl game against Maryland in December, but Freeze declined the opportunity because he felt as if there were too many moving parts in a short period of time. He didn't want to shift his attention away from game-planning and recruiting. The Terrapins, however, did opt in to using helmet communication and went on to win the Music City Bowl, 31-13.

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Auburn's first go with the technology will be during preseason practices. Freeze has previously expressed support for using helmet communication, but he's unsure how things will work once he and starting quarterback Payton Thorne start using it.

One thing he's considering is how it'll affect the speed in which the offense moves. Coaches will have the ability to talk to their QBs until either the snap of the ball or when there's 15 seconds left on the play clock, whichever comes first. That's similar to what the NFL has in place.

"I bet you see more teams get in the huddle this year with the communication system," Freeze said at SEC Media Days. "We haven't practiced enough with it yet. We will, starting Aug. 1, to see how comfortable (we are). But if you're not going to go fast, why wouldn't you get in the huddle?

"That's the question I'm toying with now: If you're not going to go with tempo play, why not get in the huddle, and you don't have to signal and you don't have to do anything? And you can talk to your quarterback to within 15 seconds. It wouldn't shock me to see more people do that. I don't know that we're going to do it, but it's on my mind."

Freeze has traditionally used tempo when running an offense. It's a big part of how he found success at Ole Miss, as it often gave opposing teams issues. Moving with pace helped Freeze lead the Rebels to back-to-back wins over Alabama in 2014 and 2015.

But things have changed, and teams are much more able now to adjust to quick-moving offenses than they were a decade ago. Many assumed Freeze would utilize tempo in his first season at Auburn in 2023, but he chose to slow things down much more in an effort to give his defense, a unit he thought significantly lacked depth, as much rest as possible. The lower the play clock ticked down, the more time his defenders got to recuperate on the sideline.

Will that be his strategy again? Maybe.

"We're a little thin in a couple of spots, corner and linebacker, truthfully," Freeze said. "I say thin, (and I mean) thin with maturity. I think the young kids are going to be good, but again, careful not to expect too much in year one from them. ...

"I tell (defensive linemen and pass rushers) all the time, 'Do not get caught up in − it’s a little different than offense. Defensively, if you don't have to play more than 30 to 35 snaps a game, you're going to probably be better as an individual. The NFL doesn't care how many reps you play. It’s what'd do with the ones you had.' I do think we can rotate some guys up there, hopefully."

Between wanting to keep his players fresh and having the use of helmet communication, fans may see Auburn in the huddle more than expected for a Freeze-led offense. That's far from set in stone, though, and it'll be revisited after the Tigers put a radio in Thorne's helmet for the first time and see how it affects the operation.

"If we're not wanting to go tempo, maybe we should be in the huddle more," Freeze said in a recent interview with "The Next Round," an SEC-focused show. "You can talk to your quarterback, don't have to signal and you can talk to him until 15 seconds is left.

"But I'm saying all this without having done this yet. I may want to throw it away and say, 'To heck with this.'"

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: How a new rule may change how fast Auburn football's offense moves under Hugh Freeze