Ahead of Auburn’s A-Day spring game in April, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze told reporters that Payton Thorne was in the “pole position” of the Tigers’ quarterback race. And by the sounds of it, that’ll be unchanged when fall camp finally makes its way to The Plains in a few weeks.
“I’m really confident,” Freeze told reporters ahead of an Auburn AMBUSH event in Alexander City on Tuesday. “I believe in (Thorne), I believe in his leadership.”
Freeze’s comments last week echo those he’s made all offseason as it relates to Auburn’s quarterback room.
Despite plenty of quarterback talent hitting the transfer portal at the conclusion of the 2023 season, Freeze maintained that he liked what he already had in the fold.
“I think Payton has done an incredible job since January of taking a leadership role and setting the standard,” Freeze said before Auburn’s first practice of the spring. “Do I think it’s his to lose? Yes. But he’s gotta go earn it every day,” Freeze added.
Throughout spring camp, Thorne’s grip on the starting job never seemed to loosen despite guys like redshirt freshman Hank Brown and sophomore Holden Geriner nipping at his heels, while true freshman Walker White added another talented arm to the mix.
“I thought Hank had a heck of spring, for sure, as did Holden,” Freeze said Tuesday. “Walker, I think, has a ceiling that’s really, really high. It’s just that’s he’s really young, and we’ve got to see him develop.”
So barring some great strides from Brown, Geriner or White during fall camp, the keys to the Auburn offense are expected to be handed to a “more comfortable” Payton Thorne in 2024.
“I meet with him every single week right now. He has a knowledge of the game that’s as good as I’ve been around for a quarterback. Now that we’ve gone back to some of the things I’m really familiar with, I think he’s going to be more comfortable.”
Thorne becoming more comfortable in the Auburn offense is a continuation of a discussion that started back in the spring.
And while a more comfortable and confident-feeling starting quarterback should help the Tigers in 2024, Freeze knows it’ll take more than that.
“The pieces around the quarterback have to play really well,” Freeze said Tuesday. “And I think we’ve improved that.”
“We had to restructure that room,” Freeze said before his round at the Regions Tradition Celebrity Pro-Am golf event in Hoover on May 8. “I hate saying it like that sometimes. But for what we want to do, we had to change that room.”
Auburn saw eight wide receivers leave the program at the conclusion of the 2023 season — six to the transfer portal and two to graduation.
Meanwhile, the Tigers offset those losses with seven wide receiver additions — three via the transfer poral and four from the high school ranks.
Of Auburn’s trio of transfer wide receivers, two are proven as Georgia State transfer Robert Lewis and Penn State transfer KeAndre Lambert-Smith arrive to The Plains with a combined 3,000-plus receiving yards and 25 touchdowns.
The freshmen, however, as talented as they are, approach the 2024 season relatively unproven.
“How well can those freshmen play at certain positions? I don’t know,” Freeze said, referring to Auburn’s historic crop of wide receivers, which features 5-star Cam Coleman, 5-star Perry Thompson, 4-star Malcolm Simmons and 4-star Bryce Cain.
“I’ve seen it go really well and I’ve seen some have to have time to develop,” Freeze said.
Nonetheless, when it comes to who’s on the throwing end of Auburn’s passing game, Freeze doesn’t have as many questions.
“I’m optimistic and believe in Payton,” Freeze said on Tuesday. “For sure.”