Thursday morning was first-year head coach Hugh Freeze’s first opportunity to lay his eyes on the Auburn football team he helped craft after bringing in more than 40 new faces via the transfer portal, JUCO and the high school ranks.

Given the brewing quarterback battle on The Plains, it didn’t come as a surprise when Freeze fielded a handful of questions about the Tigers’ situation under center. And while Freeze is excited to see how his quarterbacks compete this fall, they don’t make up the position group that excites Freeze the most heading into fall camp.

“If there’s a room that really excites me… I’m excited about our O-Line,” Freeze said ahead of Thursday’s practice.

At any level — but especially the SEC — a quarterback is often only as good as his offensive line allows him to be and Freeze knows that.

In 2022, that was an issue for the Tigers, who allowed 30 sacks through 12 games. As such, Freeze made sure to make the offensive line a priority when making additions to Auburn’s roster throughout the offseason.

Auburn added five offensive lineman via the transfer portal, first adding Western Kentucky and East Carolina transfers Gunner Britton and Avery Jones, followed by the additions of Tulsa transfers Dillon Wade and Jaden Muskrat.

“They can all play, man,” said senior offensive lineman Kam Stutts at SEC Media Days. “Every dude we’ve brought in is talented, and they’re all doing a really good job working hard and getting after it.”

Freeze and the Tigers added their fifth offensive lineman transfer just days ago as freshman Northwestern transfer Dylan Senda announced his commitment to Auburn.

“There’s no secret that I made that a priority,” Freeze said of Senda, adding that offensive line coach Jake Thornton’s previous relationship with Senda helped the Tigers. “I think that gave us an edge. He is a big, good-looking dude and he’s a freshman. Basically, I think we’ve added a guy that has a long-term future here.”

Junior Izavion Miller also joined the Tigers in the offseason after beginning his college playing career at the junior college level.

Auburn’s offensive line additions join the likes of returners Kam Stutts, Tate Johnson and Jeremiah Wright — three guys who bring SEC experience to the position group. The Tigers also have a bounty of youth on the offensive front in names like Garner Langlo, Connor Lew and Clay Wedin.

“I really think we’ve improved ourselves there,” Freeze said of the offensive line. “But I don’t know how much we’ve closed the gap on that.”

Are the Tigers done making additions to the offensive line and roster as a whole? Freeze thinks so, but he’ll never say never.

“I will never answer that with a definitive,” Freeze said. “Do I think so at this point? Yes.”