The Auburn Tigers went 6-7, had the worst passing offense in the SEC, and fired its offensive coordinator in 2023. Yet, at SEC Media Days, Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze shared his optimistic expectations for redshirt senior QB Payton Thorne.
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“I’m probably not the greatest portal recruiter that there is. I don’t know. I like developing players,” Freeze said. “I felt like we could put some pieces around Throne that would allow him to reach his potential. I’ve seen it on film … he knows that he has to produce. We don’t run from that. … I’m excited and optimistic you are going to see a good product from him.”
Thorne transferred to Auburn from Michigan State in the spring but wasn’t able to suit up with the team until fall practice. He beat out incumbent QB Robby Ashford for the starting role, but the two split reps for the first seven games of the season before Ashford was handed the reigns against Ole Miss … until he was pulled after an interception.
After the Week 8 contest, the Tigers’ fourth loss in a row, Freeze took a larger role in offensive game-planning. From there, Auburn finally saw some semblance of success.
“I think toward the second half of the year, you got a glimpse of what we could be,” Thorne said last December.
“It still wasn’t perfect; we can still be a lot better than what we were. I think that’s what we’re going to be next year. I can say there are different pieces at receiver, guys that got here the same time I did, not a ton of experience in that area. I think we’re going to clean things up a lot, and it’s going to be a lot better for a lot of us.”
It should be much better for Auburn because it really can’t get much worse from a passing perspective. The WR talent was suboptimal, but Thorne didn’t elevate the unit. He completed just 60% of his passes for 1,755 yards, 17 TDs, and 10 INTs and posted bottom-of-the-conference numbers in yards per attempt and passer rating.
“We couldn’t throw the ball the way that we wanted — the way that I’m used to,” Thorne said at Media Days. The sixth-year QB is now three years removed from his record-setting 11-2 season at Michigan State, in which he threw for 3,240 yards, 27 TDs, and 10 INTs. In 2023, he struggled mightily targeting downfield, and he turned pressures into sacks at one of the highest rates in the nation.
Freeze replaced OC Philip Montgomery with former Ole Miss wide receivers coach Derrick Nix and overhauled the WR room, bringing in five-star freshman Cam Coleman, Penn State’s KeAndre Lambert-Smith, and Georgia State’s Robert Lewis. As a result, the passing is going to improve, with or without improvement from Thorne himself.
Following the 2023 season, Freeze announced he wouldn’t bring in a transfer QB to supplant Thorne, and he stayed true to his word — he shouldn’t have.
Four signal-callers took reps in the spring: Thorne, redshirt sophomore Holden Geriner, redshirt freshman Hank Brown, and four-star true freshman Walker White. The result? A QB battle that will extend into fall camp.
“Payton will still be in the lead, pole position come fall camp,” Freeze said in April. “I do think the gap’s not very far from him and Hank and Holden.”
Geriner was a four-star prospect in the 2022 class but has completed just 7 of 18 attempts over the last two years for 83 yards, no touchdowns, and one interception. Meanwhile, Brown saw snaps in just one game last season, the Music City Bowl against Maryland.
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In that game, Thorne went just 13 of 27 for 84 yards, one TD, and one INT. With the game out of reach, Freeze inserted the freshman, who generated immediate results. Brown passed for 132 yards while completing seven of his nine attempts.
Thorne may earn the starting nod, but if Auburn’s passing game doesn’t improve significantly, it won’t be long before we see another QB under center for the Tigers.
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