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Could LSU pull trigger on hiring Freeze as OC?

It shouldn’t be surprising if Ed Orgeron hires Hugh Freeze as LSU’s offensive coordinator, but you probably should be worried if you’re a Hog fan.

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LSU finally split up with offensive coordinator Matt Canada this past week and mum has been the word out of Baton Rouge since.

Much of the speculation is that Ed Orgeron would take the easy out and just move Steve Ensminger up, but that’s not giving it too much thought.

I won’t be surprised if he hires former Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze.

Shocked? Don’t be.

When Orgeron was hired one of his first comments when asked about his offensive direction was that he would go to some sort of spread. That didn’t happen.

Canada is a pro-style guy with a lot of pre-snap movement, motion and alignments, but it was all out of a pro system.

In no universe did it ever resemble much of anything that was anything near a spread.

Before you have the same knee-jerk reaction a lot of people do and talk about his NCAA issues at Ole Miss, remember this: He basically was cleared of everything except not keeping a close enough handle on a couple of boosters.

After five years of investigating all the NCAA came up with was that. Because they spent five years in Oxford, they gave him a two-game conference suspension if — and only if — he is the head coach of a school in 2018.

There was no show-cause penalty for Freeze. In fact, the NCAA in the final order against Ole Miss said Freeze did just about everything he could in managing the situation with the exception of the actions of a couple of boosters.

In other words, there is no NCAA issue with Freeze being an offensive coordinator at LSU.

Freeze is available and started a public relations campaign last week, appearing for a very open, honest and intense interview with Clay Travis of Outkick The Show.

Don’t think it can’t happen. Orgeron gave Freeze his first job at the SEC level when he was coaching at Ole Miss and the two have remained fairly close since then.

When Orgeron replaced Les Miles at LSU, Freeze gushed at his weekly press conference about Orgeron. The week before the two played in 2016 was full of praise for each other.

When all of Freeze’s problems surfaced publicly about calling escort services on his university cell phone (the matter had already been known with Freeze’s family and close friends), Orgeron reached out to him, along with Nick Saban, Gus Malzahn, Bret Bielema and many other coaches.

The reason Freeze didn’t have a job at the start of last season was the fact the NCAA was so slow in releasing the final order against the Rebels.

Now that they cleared Freeze, the fact he called some escort services on a school phone isn’t going to stop many folks from hiring him, I don’t care what anybody says.

It shouldn’t be a surprise if Orgeron brings him in as offensive coordinator at LSU and completely turns the offense over to him. He has said repeatedly he should have done that when Orgeron was at Ole Miss.

And if it happens, every other team in the SEC West should be worried.

While Freeze has had issues, scoring points and moving the ball aren’t among them.

It’s kinda scary to imagine his offense with all that talent and a defense like Dave Aranda usually has.

Which is why Arkansas fans should be hoping they promote Ensminger.

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2024 High School Rankings

Following is the Arkansas Sports Media High School Football Poll including the Overall Top 10, the top five in Classes 7A, 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A, plus the top three in the 8-man division, as voted by a panel of sports media from around the state for the week ending August 24. Ranking is given with first-place votes received, records, total points and ranking from last week's poll:
OVERALLRecordPtsPrv
1.Bryant (25)10-02681
2.Greenwood (2)10-02343
30Conway9-12022
4.Little Rock Parkview9-11714
5.Bentonville7-31625
6.Benton9-11486
7.Fayetteville8-21117
8.Pulaski Academy8-2898
9.Rogers7-3439
10.Joe T. Robinson9-122
Others receiving votes: Valley View 8, Mountain Home 7, Cabot 6, Little Rock Catholic 6, Shiloh Christian 6, Elkins 1, Farmington 1.
CLASS 7A
1.Bryant (27)10-01351
2.Conway9-11022
3.Bentonville7-3813
4.Fayetteville8-2454
5.Pulaski Academy8-2395
Others receiving votes: Rogers 3.
CLASS 6A
1.Greenwood (27)10-01351
2.Benton9-11082
3.Mountain Home8-2623
4.Shiloh Christian7-3494
5.Little Rock Catholic9-1345
Others receiving votes: Marion 6.
CLASS 5A
1.Little Rock Parkview (27)9-11351
2.Joe T. Robinson9-11062
3.Valley View10-0793
4.Farmington9-1484
5.Hot Springs Lakeside8-2205
Others receiving votes: Camden Fairview 7, Harding Academy 7, Morrilton 3.
CLASS 4A
1.Elkins (20)10-01261
3.Arkadelphia (5)8-2913
2.Little Rock Mills (1)10-0682
4.Warren8-2554
5.Dardanell (1)9-123
Southside Batesville10-023
Others receiving votes: Malvern 12, Gravette 5, Highland 2.
CLASS 3A
1.Bismarck (12)10-01051t
2.Fordyce (10)10-0961t
3.Prescott (1)9-1704
4.Osceola (2)8-1543
5.Booneville (1)9-1395
Others receiving votes: Mansfield (1) 23, Rivercrest 10, Rison 4, Salem 4.
CLASS 2A
1.Carlisle (20)10-01271
2.Conway Christian (7)10-01152
3.Des Arc8-2595
4.East Poinsett Co.7-352
5.Bigelow6-4183
Murfreesboro7-3184
Others receiving votes: Mount Ida 6, Junction City 4, Cross County 3, Poyen 3.
8-MAN SANCTIONED
1.Strong-Huttig (27)5-0811
2.Midland9-0532
3.Cedar Ridge8-1253
Others receiving votes: Woodlawn 3.

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ESPN ARKANSAS 99.5 IN FAYETTEVILLE, 95.3 IN THE RIVER VALLEY, 96.3 IN HOT SPRINGS, 104.3 IN HARRISON-MOUNTAIN HOME.