Painful exist : Auburn Tigers head coach beloved family involved into accident due to…….

“Until we say we’ve got to scrap the game plan, these are the things that we want to see. So, he’s got free reign there,” Freeze said of Nix.

Should the Tigers be face with a third-and-long situation, the keys will get tossed to Austin.

“He’s always done that for me and he’s really good as that… as good as you can be on third-and-long in this league,” Freeze said.

Meanwhile, if the Tigers find themselves in a touch-and-go or critical down, Freeze, of course, will have the freedom to step in.

And while that was also the case in 2023, it’ll come a bit easier in 2024.

“Now that it’s back to our terminology that I’m very comfortable with, once we have a successful play or it’s not third-and-long, I’m going to have the freedom and flexibility to jump in, certainly with our landmarks (on the field),” Freeze said. “I’ll usually control those.”

Freeze’s mention of familiar verbiage and terminology has been a common theme of the offseason.

“It’s just a comfort level to have D-Nix and Kent (Austin) in that room knowing that the verbiage and terminology and everything will be things that I understand clearly and can add value to when I need to,” Freeze said back in January.

With Nix having spent five seasons with Freeze when Freeze was the head coach at Ole Miss and Austin having spent time at Liberty with Freeze, Freeze is surrounded by nothing but familiar faces when he walks into offensive meetings.

And while his “it depends” answer to the play-calling question only brings about more questions, Freeze can be certain about one thing:

“The one thing I do know is that every single person in that offensive room has been with me before and the entire verbiage is back to where I’m very comfortable,” Freeze said.