This is an opinion column.

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Hugh Freeze might have abandoned his initial plan for Auburn football and gone 11-17 in his first two seasons, but that doesn’t mean the Tigers’ coach is destined to be a bust.

It just means the plan was unsound and that Freeze has the ability to adjust.

Maybe I’m giving Freeze too much credit, but I’ll take that as positive growth.

When Freeze arrived at Auburn three years ago, he had lofty goals and even bigger ideals about how to get it all done. In a world of NIL riches and the transfer portal, Freeze wanted to rebuild the Tigers’ the old-fashioned way — make Auburn great again by developing high school players.

Yeah, about that …

We all love inspiring sound bites at news conferences, but look at Auburn’s roster going into the 2025 season. The Tigers lost 23 players to the transfer portal.

So much for building a team through commitment and sacrifice.

Freeze never won an SEC championship at Ole Miss, and, fair or not, his rocky start at Auburn is raising plenty of questions about his ability to coach in the new SEC. In the previous era of college football, Year Three for a coach would be considered a make-or-break moment. It looks like Freeze embraced college football’s new rules just in time.

A quick check of the ledger shows that Freeze is going into his third season with a reloaded roster featuring 19 transfers. Among the newcomers are some big names, including former Oklahoma quarterback Jackson Arnold and Georgia Tech receiver Eric Singleton, Jr.

Arnold is an upgrade from previous Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne, and Freeze has proven throughout his career that he can identify and recruit talent at receiver. Freeze needed a couple years to fully embrace college football free agency, but turnover isn’t a bad thing if the players coming in are better than the ones leaving.

Just ask Coach Prime Deion Sanders.

Auburn passed on Coach Prime three years ago, and it still feels like a mistake. Prime fully embraced the transfer portal era from the beginning and even set a trend in his first season at Colorado. What happened? Auburn went backwards and Prime’s Buffaloes, one of the worst teams in the country four years ago, were in the conversation for the 2024 College Football Playoffs.

Meanwhile, Indiana — yes, Indiana — used the Prime method of team building last season and made the playoffs over Alabama.

Freeze got a pass that first season, but Year Two was telling. With Thorne at quarterback, Freeze looked like a stubborn coach clinging to the past.

Anyone remember what Gene Chizik did in Year Two? Turns out Chiz was ahead of his time.

Arnold, the new Auburn quarterback, isn’t the next Cam Newton, but Freeze already has enough confidence in OU’s older passer to predict a break season.

Freeze is telling people that Arnold can be one of the best quarterbacks in the country next season. We’ve learned over the years that too much hype at Auburn can be a dangerous thing, but there’s no reason to doubt Auburn’s coach.

After all, Freeze wouldn’t go out and recruit a quarterback from Oklahoma who couldn’t return to OU the next season and win a game … right?

Auburn begins SEC play in 2025 against OU on Sept.20. It will be the biggest game of Freeze’s tenure with the Tigers.

Win, and Auburn will be a national title contender with Arnold at quarterback. Lose, and Freeze will look like a coach without much of a future.

Was 2024 rock bottom for Freeze and how many games does he need to win in 2025 to keep his job?

If Freeze goes 5-7 again, then I’m not sure how much longer Auburn athletics director John Cohen can keep him around.

The best coaches in the SEC have a history of competing for national championships by their third seasons. Is that too much to expect from Freeze? Auburn should win 10 games in 2025, but the must-or-bust games are road trips to Oklahoma, Vanderbilt and Arkansas.

Freeze will be called a failure if he doesn’t win at least eight, and he won’t have anyone to blame but himself.

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Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the book “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”