With the spring transfer portal window now closed, Auburn’s roster for Hugh Freeze’s third season is essentially set—barring any unexpected changes. After two straight losing seasons, pressure is mounting on Freeze, and he responded aggressively with key additions during both the winter and spring portal windows.
While Freeze has thrived on the recruiting trail, his highly rated 2024 class is still only entering its second year. That meant Auburn needed to bring in experienced players to help win immediately—and that’s exactly what these three transfer additions represent.
Jackson Arnold
Quarterback—the most critical position in football—has been Hugh Freeze’s biggest issue during his first two seasons at Auburn. Payton Thorne, a transfer from Michigan State, struggled to meet SEC standards, and Freeze was unable to elevate his play last season.
With Thorne now gone, Freeze returned to the portal to solve the quarterback dilemma, landing former five-star prospect Jackson Arnold. Arnold had a rocky debut season as Oklahoma’s starter, eventually losing the job to a true freshman in a chaotic offensive environment. At Auburn, however, he’ll be surrounded by a deep and talented receiving corps, giving him a real shot to unlock his potential.
That said, Arnold remains largely unproven—he has just 10 career starts, averaged only 5.8 yards per attempt last season, and failed to eclipse 1,500 passing yards. If Arnold doesn’t pan out, Freeze has a talented insurance policy in freshman Deuce Knight. But if neither quarterback can lead Auburn into SEC contention, Freeze’s third year might be his last on the Plains.
Eric Singleton Jr.
You wouldn’t expect a team that brought in the nation’s top wide receiver class in 2024 to still go after a major offensive playmaker in the transfer portal, but Hugh Freeze knows he can’t rely solely on a group of sophomores at such a critical position.
Enter Eric Singleton Jr., a versatile playmaker who recorded 56 catches for 754 yards and three touchdowns at Georgia Tech, while also adding 131 rushing yards on 21 carries. At 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds, Singleton can line up anywhere on the field and is an ideal WR2 alongside Cam Coleman, who’s poised to take on a larger role in his sophomore season.
Singleton is expected to help fill the production gap left by KeAndre Lambert-Smith, who left for the NFL. Behind Coleman and Singleton, second-year receivers Malcolm Simmons and Perry Thompson are competing for WR3 duties. Considering the injuries that plagued Oklahoma’s wideouts last year, any one of these four would have been Jackson Arnold’s top target in Norman.
Caleb Wheatland
With Eugene Asante, Dorian Mausi, and Austin Keys all departing, DJ Durkin was tasked with rebuilding Auburn’s linebacker corps from the ground up. That overhaul was completed with the addition of Caleb Wheatland, who arrived during the spring transfer window.
Wheatland, a Virginia native, logged 466 defensive snaps for Maryland last season, totaling 42 tackles and four sacks. He immediately fills a major need on Auburn’s defense and is expected to compete for a starting role right away.
While Robert Woodyard, Demarcus Riddick, and freshman J.J. Faulk will also be in the mix for playing time at middle linebacker, Wheatland is poised to be a key piece of the rotation regardless of who ends up starting.