Coach Hugh Freeze took his turn at the SEC Media Days podium on Tuesday afternoon.

Here is an overview of what he had to say:

******

• Commends Commissioner Greg Sankey for "shooting dead straight with me."

• "We know we've got a tall task ahead."

• "I think the alignment is at an all-time high."

• Asks for "a little bit of patience" as Auburn rebuilds its roster.

• "We've got a lot of questions about how exactly we're going to be. It's a strange feeling, in some ways, for me. Never gone into fall camp with so many unknowns in my mind. There's a lot of things I'm not quite certain about."

• "We've been welcomed ... we could not have asked for a better welcoming to the Plains. What a great place it is to live."

******Q-and-A TIME******

• Q about coaches who have coached different SEC teams. "Truthfully, when the ending at Ole Miss occurred, it was hard to process if you'd ever get that opportunity again. As time passes ... one of the greatest judges of people, and or players are included, when you experience disappointment of failure, whether it's your own doing, how a person responds to those and reacts to those ... probably tells you more about them than the successes do."

• Notes that Gus Malzahn, a long-time friend of Freeze's, is very complimentary of Auburn.

• Q about establishing the culture at Auburn. "Making sure it's defined for them." (He says "faith was lost" when he arrived. "Faith in the whole family of Auburn football was fractured somewhat.")

• Q about Phillip Montgomery and the QB battle. "Once upon a time, I was probably one of the better play-callers in college football. I don't know that I was one of the greatest play-caller ... the last few years at Liberty. Coming back knowing what was all-encompassing to bring Auburn back ... I needed help. I do think I need a new terminology. There are too many people in this league that I talked ball with. We're running the same system we've always run, but Phillip has helped me with terminology. So has Jake (Thornton). Obviously, Phillip will be the primary play-caller. I have great trust in him; I've been very impressed."

• On QB: "That's going to be a challenge for us. I think we've got a good room, but I'm an optimist. We've been able to do things with quarterbacks everywhere we've been. Spring practice ... we got better there. What (Thorne) adds to that room is incredible leadership. It's going to create great competition between him and Robby and Holden."

• Q about alignment at Auburn and how Auburn fits into the "new" SEC: "I would see us in the upper echelon in this conference. You're in an area where football is important and you're in an area where you can recruit to. We've got to start closing the gap on the elite programs in this conference. There's a lot of good players. They can't all go to the same school. The transfer portal world adds another dynamic to it. Hopefully, we can be very good at that ... creating a culture where kids want to come to Auburn and stay at Auburn. If you're in the upper half (of the league) and you get a break here and there, you're in the playoffs."

• Q on WR Caleb Burton and RB Brian Battie. "Real excited about both those young men. When we took (Battie), I thought he was too small to run between the tackles ... but I thought he could help us in the return game and help us on some special-designed outside runs. Then we get into spring practice and we start running inside zone with him and the guy is wiggling through holes, falling forward. I got really, really excited about him and I think he's going to add great value to us. Wide-receiver wise, we've got to have some production there. We need to win some 1 on 1s."

• Q about flipping the script. "The first thing that had to be flipped was the mindset. What do we think about ourselves at Auburn? We first have to re-wire how we think."

• Q on financial literacy in relation to NIL for these players. "This one could take a while to answer. The education part, I think, is absolutely vital. Once a deal is done with On To Victory, they have a board ... that is set up with financial advisers to help them. I tell them that they're very, very wise to use the resources available to them. Do I think it needs some more parameters around it. Of course."

• He reminds players that the NIL situation/compensation "will never be totally fair in your eyes. We need to quit looking at other people. Comparison is the chief stealer of joy."

• Q about his second-half adjustments. "Which coach said that? It would be nice if that was Coach Saban saying that. (GUFFAWS ALL AROUND). I always hold a few things until the second half. I'm not sure that's wise. I lean on our coaches a lot. Coaches are a creature of habit. If this is what they do on every second-and-long, what is our best call. That should be the first call we make. That's not some mystery. I'm sure other coaches do the same thing. I make our offensive line coach change his clothes if we're not going well. That started with Matt Luke."

• Q on Jarquez being available for the opening of fall camp. "I'm not allowed to comment on university policies or procedures at this point."

• Q on expectations and how close this team is to being legitimately good. "Does our roster from top to bottom look like Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Florida, A&M, Ole Miss? I don't know yet. Do I think we've improved Auburn with the additions we've had since I've been there? Yes. Does that mean we've closed the gap at all? I have no clue. I do know that we improved Auburn."

• Q about games against Ala and UGA. "The Iron Bowl is what it is. I don't have to be educated on it. I've always taken great pride in walking into a new program and saying: 'Listen, they're currently the gold standard and that's what we want to be.' I have great respect for Nick. He's actually a great friend. There are so many good coaches in this league that do such a great job. Many of them do it with less than what others have. I relish the opportunity to play the Alabamas and the Georgias."

• Q about hazing and team bonding. "Team bonding should be done for us through our core values. which should represent love for each other, integrity for each other, mental toughness for each other. I know for us, you sure would hope there has to be accountability from the staff and the leadership of the team that we are doing things in a manner that represent our core values and how we want to treat people in general."

• Q on his comment about Sankey. "There's never been a time where I had a conversation with (Sankey) when I didn't think he was telling me exactly was the truth was and probably had great wisdom behind it. Whether I liked it or not, I always felt like he'd really has thought through this and he's telling what he thinks is the truth and best. I really respect that with people."