Hugh Freeze has tried to word his comments carefully so as to not insult the previous group of wide receivers during his first year as Auburn’s head coach, but it was quite evident he needed to bring in new faces.

“Y’all have been around since I’ve been here: We had to restructure that room,” Freeze said Wednesday before playing a round at the Regions Tradition Pro-Am in Birmingham. “I hate saying it like that sometimes. But for what we want to do, we had to change that room.”

He said he felt he has done that with the incoming high school wide receivers, the foursome of former five-star recruit Cam Coleman as well as four-star recruits Perry Thompson, Bryce Cain and Malcolm Simmons.

Freeze said that Coleman has a chance to play early, and he proved that during spring practices. Thompson will arrive on campus this summer, and Freeze said that he “has the appearance” he could be another freshman with early playing time.

But that, he added, is why the addition of Penn State graduate transfer KeAndre Lambert-Smith that much more important.

“You get a guy that has the experience that Dre has at the Power Five level to combine with those young kids I thought was a home run for us,” Freeze said.

Lambert-Smith led Penn State with 673 receiving yards last season and averaged 12.7 yards per catch. He has 126 career receptions and has played in 48 career games. Though he closed the 2023 season with two catches for 28 yards over his final three games including not making any catches on just one target against Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl.

Lambert-Smith couples experience and production alongside the talent of the incoming freshmen. That’s why Freeze called it a “home run” addition.

“He’s quick twitch, he’s long, he’s got length to him,” Freeze said of Lambert-Smith. “He’s a natural ball-catcher, he’s a 50-50 guy that can make contested catches, and he can make runs after the catch. I think he’s a really complete guy.”

Auburn will have seven new scholarship receivers on its roster compared to last season. The only returners are junior Camden Brown and sophomore Caleb Burton III. Brown is the only scholarship receiver left who was not recruited by Freeze.

Other additions incoming include Georgia State transfer senior Robert Lewis and former Cal quarterback-turned-wide receiver senior Sam Jackson V. Simmons and Thompson are the only freshmen not on campus and Lambert-Smith will be arriving soon after graduating this spring from Penn State.

Lambert-Smith and Lewis each led their respective teams in receiving yards last year. Auburn’s leading returning wide receiver is Burton with 16 catches for 226 yards. About 35% of those yards came in Auburn’s bowl game loss to Maryland where he had easily his best game of his freshman season: making five catches for 75 yards.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]