Auburn Coach Hugh Freeze Asks for More from QB Payton Thorne Ahead of Cal

Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze searching for improvements in pass protection appears to focus in on his quarterback Payton Thorne.

Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze expects quarterback Payton Thorne to help his offensive linemen with protection schemes. / John Reed-Imagn Images

Such is the nature of the competitive beast, a 73-point avalanche only leads to looking for ever more places to improve for the Auburn Tigers. 

Of course, today's visit of the Cal Bears will provide much stiffer opposition for the buoyant Tigers, especially for the Payton Thorne led offense. After all, simply cutting through the Alabama A&M defense like a knife through hot butter most likely won't be a weekly occurrence. 

Presumably Thorne will be given far less time in the pocket this week to slice and dice away till his heart's content - teams like Cal will want to put him under duress and force errors.

All told, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze feels the extra stress on protections will come in handy for the challenges to come, especially because Thorne has to develop a better feel for working behind his offensive line.

"I expect him to get that right 95 percent of the time on certain things that I was upset with the other night," Freeze admitted last week. "I was really upset one time and frustrated a few others. He still made good throws and made a touchdown or whatever, but he didn't get himself protected like he's supposed to. I don't want him taking unnecessary hits, and I made it clear that I believe in him. With that comes the expectation that if I know we have thoroughly discussed something, that the expectation is that you get that right . He handles that fine."

This season, there's also the additional benefit of in-helmet communication to help Thorne get things squared away exactly the way they want to.

If you only took the time to listen to coach Freeze, then you might think it didn't add much to the process last Saturday night, his clear desire is for them to be fully prepared way ahead of schedule.

On the flip side, Thorne had an altogether more positive take on how it all went under the lights, the communication was on-point he felt

"It was good, I heard coach plain and clear," Thorne insisted during the week. "Getting reps with it during the camp helped us get comfortable with it and Saturday everything went good. If it's above 15 seconds, And coach sees something, and he can just let me know versus giving me a signal on the sidelines. I think that happened once during last week's game, so it's giving me opportunities to handle stuff more at the line of scrimmage and getting me comfortable in this offense."

It could be suggested that Freeze and Thorne are indulging in some good cop, bad cop cosplay to get more out of the young Tigers team.

Truth is, both men might look at things a little differently, particularly when it comes to new tech, but every quarterback is always appreciative of a head coach who gets you in the right call and pass protections.

"Coach has given me the opportunity to help the guys out up front, to make sure I'm keeping myself protected and we are all on the same page," Thorne said. "Being able to redirect certain things and make sure we're in the best play possible helped us as a unit."

Three quarters of the massively impressive  "Freeze Four" scored touchdowns last week, so perhaps the proof of the pudding was in the eating.

Having said that, all young groups always need the stick and carrot if they're going to maximize their huge potential, not to mention a field general who is prepared to dutifully serve the game plan he's given.

Therefore, lots and lots to watch and learn later today as Auburn battles Cal.