AUBURN | Hugh Freeze improved from 8-4 to 12-1 in his second season at Lambuth.

He was 8-5 in his second season at Ole Miss, a one-game improvement over his first year. It was 8-5 to 10-1 in year two at Liberty.

As he approaches the start of his second season at Auburn, Freeze is confident the Tigers can take a similar step forward.

“I think if you look at my track record everywhere … we’ve had pretty good jumps from year one to year two,” said Freeze. “I can’t speak for other programs and how they did it, but for us in our building right now there’s a sense of chemistry that I think is breeding some confidence in our players. I just sense there’s a more confident football team. There’s no doubt I’m more comfortable.

“I have told y’all this a hundred times and I’m not being negative towards anyone, but I’m more comfortable with the building. That hopefully breeds confidence in our team and we can play really well at critical positions and on critical downs and we see that improvement we’re talking about.”

The Tigers have had three consecutive losing seasons for the first time since 1948-50 including three straight losses last season to finish 6-7.

There have been mixed results from Auburn coaches going into year two over the past four decades. Pat Dye improved from 5-6 to 9-3 IN 1982, Tommy Tuberville from 5-6 to 9-4 in 2000 and Gene Chizik from 8-5 to 14-0 and a national championship in 2010.

On the other hand, Terry Bowden went from 11-0 to 9-1-1 in 1994, Gus Malzahn 12-2 to 8-5 in 2014 and Bryan Harsin 6-7 to 5-7 in 2022.

Auburn will open preseason practice Aug. 1. The season-opener is Aug. 31 against Alabama A&M at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN+/SECN+.