Auburn first-year head coach Hugh Freeze admitted at SEC Media Days that he’s never entered a fall camp with as many unknowns as he does this year with the Tigers.

“We’ve got a lot of questions about exactly how we’re going to be, and truthfully I don’t know all the answers to that yet,” Freeze said in his opening statement at media days. “This is a strange feeling and in some ways for me I’ve never experienced going into fall camp and having so many unknowns in my mind.”

Since being hired in December, Freeze and the Tigers have brought in 40 new players, whether by way of the transfer portal, JUCO or out of the high school ranks.

And with Auburn reporting to fall camp for the first time Wednesday and the first practice scheduled for Thursday, the Tigers will have to act quick to establish an identity as the season opener against UMass on Sept. 2 quickly approaches.

Here are three storylines to keep an eye on as fall camp unfolds.

What will the quarterback competition look like?

Auburn’s roster features seven quarterbacks. However, Freeze said at media days that he wants a two-name shortlist as soon as possible.

Redshirt freshman Holden Geriner and true freshman Hank Brown have both received high praise from Freeze, and Geriner could get reps at the start of camp. But all the buzz points to last year’s starter, sophomore Robby Ashford, and junior Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne being the two names to keep track of during fall camp.

Ashford piloted the Tigers for much of last season, passing for more than 1,600 yards, seven touchdowns and seven interceptions. What Ashford lacked in consistency through the air, he made up for with his athleticism as he tallied 710 rushing yards and another seven score on the ground.

But following Auburn’s spring game, Freeze decided to dip into the transfer portal and added Thorne, who brings a lot of experience to an otherwise green quarterback room.

Thorne was Michigan State’s starter in 2021 and 2022, passing for a combined 5,919 yards in those two seasons. Thorne also recorded 46 touchdowns and 21 interceptions in that span.

While numbers and tape can tell a little bit about Thorne, Freeze has yet to see the transfer with his own two eyes. But that changes this week.

Will we see running back Jarquez Hunter?

The Jarquez Hunter situation has been interesting this offseason.

In May, a sex tape that circulated on social media was rumored to include Hunter. Auburn University went on to investigate the claims and later announced that involved students were suspended. However, it’s uncertain if Hunter was among those suspended.

When asked about Hunter’s availability at SEC Media Days, Freeze sidestepped the questions.

“I can’t comment on university policies or procedures,” Freeze said.

All offseason, Hunter has been training with former Auburn running back Brad Lester, who anticipates Hunter having a breakout season as the Tigers’ starting running back.

When Auburn takes the field for the first time this fall on Thursday, you could imagine all eyes will be scanning the field for Hunter’s presence, which could indicate that the running back will be available Week 1 against UMass.

How quickly and how close will the Tigers come together as one?

With so many new faces joining a new coaching staff on The Plains, Freeze joked during SEC Media Days that Auburn’s players might have tape with their names written on it stuck to their helmets.

Depending on how good Freeze and his staff are with names, learning everyone’s names should be the easy part. Getting everyone to buy in and come together as a cohesive football team, on the other hand, will likely be the hard part.

“We recruited kids after spring practice, I haven’t coached them. I haven’t been able to be with them a whole lot, and truthfully it’d be hard to sit here and say I truly know them,” Freeze said at media days. “Or that they know me.”

Auburn brought in more than 20 players from the transfer portal. Generally speaking, that likely means there are 20 players on the Tigers’ roster who left their previous institution because they thought they have a better chance at starting or seeing the field more at Auburn.

For many of Auburn’s transfers, that might be true. But not for everyone.

“Obviously, you transfer or you come in new and you kind of expect that you might get to play,” Freeze said at media days. Well, that’s not going to be true for every single person, and yet we’re going to need everybody in that team room to be of one mind and one accord.

“But there’s no skirting the issue. That’s a challenge for us, to try to formulate a team from so many different and new faces in a very short amount of time?”