The Auburn Tigers are entering Year Three of the Hugh Freeze era — and the pressure to win has never been higher.

After back-to-back losing seasons and missing out on bowl eligibility last year, Freeze knows a major turnaround is needed. Otherwise, his job could be on the line.

On paper, there’s no reason Auburn shouldn’t be significantly more competitive this fall.

With one of the most underrated rosters in the country in terms of raw talent, the Tigers boast a wide receiver room and defensive line capable of matching up with anyone.

None of that will matter though if their most important player cannot live up to his immense potential that he has yet to do to this point in his college career.

Last season, the Tigers lost numerous close games because of turnovers, and more specifically quarterback play.

Payton Thorne simply did not improve from his first year to his second, and as a result, Auburn was dreadful in the passing game, despite having two star playmakers in freshman stud Cam Coleman and Penn State transfer KeAndre Lambert-Smith.

While Lambert-Smith is gone to the NFL, so is Thorne and more additions have been made to the room.

As for the man throwing to them, the Tigers — and Freeze especially — have all their eggs in the Jackson Arnold basket.

Arnold transferred to The Plains from Oklahoma after two seasons, one sitting the bench and one getting his shot.

Unfortunately for the former five-star, things were not good for him last season and he was benched by the Sooners, throughout the year as the offense struggled to click at times even more than Auburn’s.

Arnold was an Elite 11 MVP and one of the best quarterbacks in the nation coming out of high school three years ago, but for whatever reason that talent did not click.

Clearly, Freeze and his staff thought they can pull that potential out of Arnold when they aggressively pursued him in the transfer portal.

Thus far, the early returns throughout the spring have been good.

Freeze has spoken glowingly about his new quarterback and all reports have been positive about the upgrade the Tigers are perceived to have made.

If Arnold can be what he was billed as when he was a recruit, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to think Auburn can instantly turn things around and be a real playoff contender.

If he can’t though, the Tigers would be looking at another poor season of quarterback play and in turn, a significant number of losses, potentially pushing Freeze’s already shrinking grace with boosters and fans over the edge.

This is a much improved Auburn team, but make no mistake: their ceiling comes down to which version of Arnold shows up in the fall.