Hugh Freeze Opens Door on Possible Auburn Tigers Quarterback Change

The Auburn Tigers watched senior quarterback Payton Thorne struggle mightily in a loss to Cal on Saturday. Head coach Hugh Freeze keeps the door open on a change.

Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze was perplexed by his offense's ineptitude on Saturday against Cal. / Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK

Things did not go according to plan for the Auburn Tigers against Cal on Saturday.

Quarterback play was one of Auburn’s most glaring issues as Payton Thorne threw four interceptions and could have had more as one interception was overturned and another was called back due to a defensive pass interference penalty.

Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze is sticking with Payton Thorne for now as he believes that Thorne still has the best command of the offense.

““It’s really hard to not play a young man, whether it’s Payton (Thorne) or whoever else it is, it’s really hard to not play a young man who consistently is the best performer in practice, over and over and over again,” Freeze said. “His execution of the offense, it’s been pretty clear to all of us throughout camp and throughout the practice weeks, his performance and his understanding of what we want to do has been better than the others.”

Despite wanting to remain with Thorne, Freeze acknowledged that a change would be needed if quarterback play does not improve.

“I'm not going to tell you all something that's not true, so could it, yes,” Freeze said. “Do I think I want to see how the week goes before I really decide that, yes. I want to see how it goes and see how everybody responds to what is on the tape. We talked about it all the time, the integrity of your life and tape is not always fun. I've experienced that and everybody has experienced that. And we have to experience that in the public eye and you have to own what that is. And you have to make the necessary changes.”

Freeze confirmed that Hank Brown, who is currently Auburn’s backup quarterback, will have opportunities to show what he can do throughout the week.

“Meeting with both of them individually after we get out of here and going through that cut-up reel and them seeing how all of that goes, and we will go from there,” Freeze said. “Hank (Brown) will definitely get his share of reps this week. I expect them both to go about it the right way and go out and have a great week in practice. But again, I say now it's at a point where it can't just be the execution in practice that matters. We are going to have to have that carry over into the game, which I have seen evidence of, but you also have times where you scratch your head and say what are we doing?”

Freeze could have to make this decision sooner than anticipated if Auburn does not look sharper in the passing game this week.