Coach Freeze- C Spire 1st & 10- Post Meeting Wrap Up

This past Monday (October 2), the 68 Ventures Bowl hosted its third C Spire 1st and 10 Club meeting of the season. The club welcomed Hugh Freeze, Head Football Coach at Auburn University. Joining the Tigers in November of 2022, Freeze has led the Auburn Tigers to a record of 3-2 so far this season. Last weekend, the Auburn Tigers put up a good fight, but ultimately fell to defending National Champions and #1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs losing 27-20.

Coach Freeze spoke a bit about the game saying, “There’s a talent gap but we were able to prove we can compete.” Coach also spoke about his effort in recruiting and how important it is for Auburn’s football team to have depth and numbers with star athletes. When asked about Auburn commit Perry Thompson, Coach said, “I’m not allowed to talk about him directly, but if you noticed, I did speak a lot about needing receivers.” Freeze mentioned that out of Auburn QB Payton Thorne’s nine incompletions vs Georgia, he believes five were catchable.

The Student Athlete of the Month Awards were presented by WNSP105.5; Corey LaBounty. These players were selected for their recent performance in the 2023 season. They are as follows:

Defensive Player of the Month, Cole McConathy (Sr.), Defensive End, Spanish Fort.
Cole McConathy is a standout defensive end for Spanish Fort High School. McConathy is a University of Louisville verbal commit who leads the state in sacks at 13.5 and has 54 tackles and 17 tackles for loss with 1 forced fumble and 1 fumble recovery.

Offensive Player of the Month, Perry Thompson (Sr.), Wide Receiver, Foley.
Perry Thompson is 5-star wide receiver for Foley High School. Thompson averages 70.2 yards a game receiving and has 65 rushing yards. Thompson has 3 receiving touchdowns and 351 receiving yards as well as a touchdown pass. This triple sport athlete had an Allstate junior season with 87 catches for 1,059 yards and 9 touchdowns.

Offensive Player of the Month, Derrick ‘DJ’ Butler (Sr.), Running Back, Davidson.
Derrick ‘DJ’ Butler is a senior running back from Davidson High School. Butler, a former 1st team class 7A selection, has 109 carries for 1,098 yards and averages 219 yards per game. Butler has 12 rushing touchdowns and 6 receptions for 50 yards and a touchdown. Davidson has made use of his athletic ability transitioning Butler to quarterback, where he is five for six with 110 yards and 3 passing touchdowns. Butler has a total of 1,258 total yards and is committed to Coastal Carolina.

Special Teams Player of the Month, Will Langston (Sr.), Kicker, Gulf Shores.
Will Langston is a senior kicker from Gulf Shores High School. Langston is twenty five of twenty-six on extra points and is six of eight on field goals. Will has a long of 42 yards and has 11 touchbacks. Langston averages 36.4 yards on punts and has a 3.6 GPA.

The next meeting will take place on Monday, October 23rd, with keynote speaker Derek Dooley,

Offensive Analyst for the University of Alabama.