Auburn’s Hugh Freeze says players used NIL money to help keep children out of foster care
Love it or hate it, NIL has fully arrived to the world of college sports and is here to stay.
And with that being the case, the Hugh Freeze and the Auburn Tigers’ football team have set out to make something positive come out of players being able to profit on their name, image and likeness.
“They’re blessed with scholarships and financial things. Obviously, we want to give back,” Freeze said during his press conference on Monday.
Picking back up on a cause Freeze and his wife Jill have supported in the past, some of Auburn’s football players elected to use portions of their NIL funds to benefit foster care organizations local to Auburn.
“We finally have it created in Alabama now where our foundation that we’ve been a part of for years can help orphans and foster care kids in Alabama,” Freeze said on Aug. 1.
“I challenged our kids to use some of their resources to help us. Jill and I have given a large amount to Auburn For Others, and we’ll start meeting the needs to try to keep as many foster care kids in the state of Alabama out of the system that we can.”
During Monday’s press conference, Freeze said that between he and his family’s contributions and the contributions of some of Auburn’s football players, the effort was able to “meet the needs of 13 families in the state of Alabama to help keep their children out of the foster care system.”
“That’s something I’m really, really proud of. Proud of our kids that said, ‘Coach, I want to help and be a part of that,’” Freeze said. “That’s something that I hope continues to grow throughout the year as we continue to meet needs in the state of Alabama for the orphan and foster care systems.”
When Freeze was the head coach at Ole Miss, he and his wife founded “The Freeze Foundation,” which had a state mission to “express God’s love by improving the quality of life for orphans and needy children.”