Temptation is plentiful these days in the world of college football.

From the transfer portal to name, image and likeness, college football players have so much to flirt with during their playing careers. As of late, players who have their sights set on the transition to the NFL or who are planning to transfer are becoming more and more tempted not to play in bowl games, too.

And while opting out of bowl games isn’t new — in fact, it’s grown in popularity the past few seasons — it is new to Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze.

When Freeze was the head coach at Ole Miss from 2012-16, opting out of bowl games wasn’t really a “thing.” It wasn’t popular. After that, while Freeze was at Liberty from 2019-22, he didn’t have a player opt out, despite coaching the Flames in three bowl games.

“This is new to me,” Freeze said when asked about the trend of players opting out. “That is a difficult deal for me. I’ve always believed you finish. You finish with your team. We signed up for this.”

With that comment alone, Freeze — old-school in nature — said all that needed saying about his feelings toward the recent trend.

However, Auburn’s first-year head coach does believe in everyone having their own unique circumstances.

“There’s obviously some kids that probably will move on from here so our people need to know that,” Freeze said, seemingly referring to the transfer portal. “That’s the new world we live in.”

Freeze said Monday his plan is to approach transfer portal-related conversations with transparency. If Freeze believes a greater opportunity for a player exists elsewhere, he’ll tell them that. If Freeze believes a player needs to consider being patient and trust the process at Auburn, he’ll them that, too.

Auburn has seen just two transfer portal announcements as Enyce Sledge and Stephen Johnson, both young defensive linemen, announced their intentions to transfer earlier this week after not seeing the playing field much at all — if any — in 2023.

And while it’s safe to assume more announcements could be coming, there’s no telling who or when.

Nonetheless, though a player might put his name into the transfer portal, he technically can still play in Auburn’s bowl game. But the decision to let him play is left up to Freeze and the Tigers’ coaching staff.

“Do you take to the bowl game those guys that are choosing to do that? Or do you not?,” Freeze said. “You certainly need to have some numbers to have — you want do well and you want to prepare well. So you gotta have some numbers to do that.”

As for guys who might be looking to take their talents to the big league, there are a handful of names to consider — especially in the defensive backfield.

Cornerbacks DJ James and Nehemiah Pritchett both received Senior Bowl invites last year before announcing their return to The Plains. The tandem did that again this year, too. However, there is no coming back this time around as the pair has run out of eligibility.

That said, regardless of whether James and Pritchett elect to play in Auburn’s bowl game or not, Freeze plans to make an effort to get some of the Tigers’ younger defensive backs some experience during the postseason.

“We’ll try to get our young kids a lot of work, hopefully get them in the game some — particularly those (defensive backs),” Freeze said. “We need to get those young DBs a lot of reps in those games. We think they have a chance to be really good players: (Tyler) Scott, Kayin Lee, Terrance Love, Sylvester Smith, JC Hart, that group of kids. We all think they have a chance, and they’re going to have to play next year. We need to see them.”

Auburn is set to learn who and where it will play in a bowl game on Sunday. In recent days, trends and chatter suggest the Tigers could be bound to see Oklahoma State at the Texas Bowl on Dec. 27 in Houston or Northwestern or Wisconsin at the Music City Bowl in Nashville on Dec. 30.

Between now and then, Freeze and Auburn’s coaching staff will be juggling a lot as they are left having to recruit their own roster, tie up loose ends on the recruiting trail before Early National Signing Day on Dec. 20 and play their part in the transfer portal, which will be open from Dec. 4-Jan. 2.

Considering bowl opt-outs is just another thing on Freeze’s plate — and an unfamiliar thing, at that.

“I’m going to have to really put a lot of thought and prayer and seek wisdom for if that becomes a case here,” Freeze said. “This is my first experience with it, believe it or not. I’ve never had to deal with it before. I’ll be learning through the process myself.”