Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze confirmed the hiring of former LSU director of player personnel Will Redmond Wednesday afternoon during a brief media availability at the 2024 Reese’s Senior Bowl.

News of Auburn hiring Redmond, who is set to take on a general manager-like role on The Plains, was first reported by FootballScoop.com on Jan. 24.

The thought of having general manager-like roles in college football is enough to make the “traditionalists” of the sport shudder. But with the college football landscape changing at a head-spin-inducing rate with the transfer portal and name, image and likeness, there’s an undeniable need for a GM-like position.

“It is different,” Freeze said Wednesday. “But I need help with that, I do. You’ve gotta have somebody you can completely trust help us build the roster and then manage it, whether it’s the NIL discussions or whatever the discussions are. I really need some help with that to take some of that off my plate. And I’ve got a guy that I’ve got great trust in that can do.”

And while Redmond isn’t a coordinator or coach, his addition still might be the biggest one Freeze has made this offseason as it helps solidify the direction the Auburn football program is moving: forward.

What are Redmond’s responsibilities?

In mid-December, Freeze opened up about how difficult it is to craft an 85-man roster in today’s football landscape.

“It’s really hard for me to juggle the numbers in my mind for managing the 85,” Freeze admitted.

Thanks to the revolving door of the transfer portal, it’s exhausting for coaches to have to constantly recruit players already in their locker room, while also keeping close tabs on what’s available in the portal.

Freeze admitted in December that the transfer portal was something he and Auburn’s staff struggled with.

“Don’t think I have handled it very well, truthfully,” Freeze said of the transfer portal. “It’s hard for any of us to truly manage all of it.”

Not to mention, still evaluating recruits in the high school ranks, which is something Freeze has made clear he prefers to be the biggest piece of his roster’s blueprint.

That’s where Redmond’s role comes in.

When Redmond was LSU’s director of player personnel, his greatest responsibility was helping craft and maintain a “recruiting board” for LSU’s coaching staff, meaning Redmond did the work behind-the-scenes to assess the needs of LSU’s roster and then evaluate prospects who could help fill those voids.

Now at Auburn with an elevated title, Redmond will likely do much of the same for the Tigers, as well as possibly helping Freeze identify potential hires as the need arises.

What does Redmond’s track record look like?

When Brian Kelly first arrived at LSU in 2022, LSU’s roster consisted of fewer than 40 scholarship players.

Essentially, unless he could figure something out quick, Kelly was looking down the barrel of a massive, multi-year rebuild in Baton Rouge. But fortunately for the Bayou Bengals, Kelly made the decision to retain Redmond, who was brought to LSU by Ed Orgeron the year prior.

And it was Redmond who acted as the general contractor of LSU’s roster rebuild ahead of the 2022 season.

In 2022, LSU landed the seventh-ranked high school recruiting class.

But more importantly, LSU landed the third-ranked transfer portal class in 2022 as it brought in 15 incoming transfers to help offset the mass exodus that followed Orgeron’s departure. The biggest transfer pickup for LSU in 2022? Former Arizona State quarterback Jayden Daniels, who went on to win the 2023 Heisman Trophy.

For his efforts in helping LSU rebound in 2022, Redmond was awarded with the 2022 Player Personnel Director of the Year Award by FootballScoop.com.

“This is a tremendous honor for Will, and I’m very happy to see him recognized as the recipient of this award,” Kelly said of Redmond winning the honor. “His ability to identify talent and his overall evaluation of players is vital to our program. Whether it’s identifying young players or evaluating players who may be in the transfer portal, Will has been able to adapt to the ever-changing landscape of recruiting and player evaluation.”

With Redmond still in Baton Rouge, LSU went on to land the fifth-ranked recruiting class and fifth-ranked transfer class in 2023.

Before his time at LSU, Redmond served as the director of recruiting at Kansas for more than four years, as well as three years as director of player personnel at Middle Tennessee State.

Former Auburn defensive lineman Marcus Harris was at Kansas at the same time as Redmond and was quick to endorse the hire.

“Great dude, fun guy, great energy. His energy is very contagious and he always comes with a smile on his face,” Harris said after his first Senior Bowl practice Tuesday afternoon. “I can’t wait until he gets to Auburn and the players get in contact with him and interact with him. It’s going to be a great deal.”

Redmond is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, where he received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees in sport management.

Why is the hiring of Redmond needed at Auburn?

Again, while such an addition might be tough for some to wrap their heads around as the need for a general manager-like role in college football still feels so foreign, Auburn fans should be relieved to see Freeze staying ahead of the curve with the hiring of Redmond.

Redmond has a mentor in Ole Miss’ Austin Thomas, who Lane Kiffin hired as the Rebels’ football chief of staff and sport administrator. But before Thomas made his way to Ole Miss, he served in a general manager-like role at LSU, becoming the first in the SEC to hold such a title.

In an interview with ESPN in 2021, Thomas helped explain the reasoning for hires such as himself.

“You think about it, it’s strength staff, training staff, nutrition staff, analysts, recruiting staff, personnel staff … it’s a lot of people,” Thomas said. “If a head coach doesn’t have help with that stuff to carry his message and implement that on a daily basis, it can go sideways really quick.”

Up in Tuscaloosa, Alabama’s recently hired head coach Kalen DeBoer is expected to bring with him Courtney Morgan, who served as DeBoer’s general manager at Washington.

At Ohio State, Ryan Day has Quinn Tempel, who serves as the Buckeyes’ chief of staff and assistant to the head coach. Meanwhile in Texas, Steve Sarkisian has Jared Blank, who serves as Longhorns’ chief of staff.

The addition of general manager-like roles is the next piece of college football’s evolution.

And the hiring of Redmond is evidence that not only does Freeze recognize the evolving need for a general manager, but also his refusal to be left trying to catch up.

“Will Redmond, I think, is a star,” Freeze said Wednesday. “He blew me away in his interviews and he’s already adding great value to being in there.”