Hank Brown to Remain Auburn's Starter To Start SEC Play

Head coach Hugh Freeze liked what he saw from Hank Brown in the Auburn Tigers win over New Mexico in Week Three.

Auburn Tigers quarterback Hank Brown impressed enough to keep the starter role to start SEC play. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-Imagn Images / John Reed-Imagn Images

Hank Brown’s first start was enough for head coach Hugh Freeze to know which direction he wants to go next week as Auburn begins SEC play at home next Saturday versus the Arkansas Razorbacks.

“Hank will be the starter next week,” Freeze told the media following Auburn’s 45-19 win over New Mexico. “The next couple of weeks will show us exactly where we are with that. He will be the starter next week, and we’ll see what he does as we step up the level of competition against SEC play.”

Brown, a redshirt freshman, went 17 of 25 for 235 yards and four touchdowns through the air in just his third collegiate game. He played mop up duty in Auburn’s bowl loss to Maryland at the end of the 2023 season, and again as a reserve in the season opener versus Alabama A&M.

When the Auburn offense was out of sync and struggled in the loss to California a week ago, it prompted head coach Hugh Freeze to bench senior Payton Thorne in favor of Brown.

“I decided on Monday after watching the film, I just didn’t tell them until Thursday,” Freeze said of the change. “I just thought we left so many plays out there – winning football plays that could win a game for us. I couldn’t put my finger on why, because I know that he (Thorne) has the understanding of it. It just felt like this is what was best for our team.

Brown played well enough on Saturday versus the Lobos of the Mountain West Conference for Freeze to know without watching film that Brown is still the starter.

“If he keeps playing well it’ll be a permanent fix,” Freeze explained. “If not, maybe it wakes everybody else up and spurs them to be better prepared and make better decisions.”

Ten Auburn receivers caught passes from Brown as he continues to build a resume for being the starter despite his limited experience. Brown started just one year of high school football at Lipscomb Academy in Nashville under Trent Dilfer, who is now the head coach at UAB. UAB lost in a close contest on Saturday to Auburn’s next opponent, Arkansas, by the score of 37-27.

Brown and the Auburn offense struggled in the second quarter versus New Mexico when it was raining. Consecutive drives ended in a field goal, a punt, a lost fumble, and time running out on the half. But aside from the final drive of the game when Auburn ran out the clock, the offense scored a touchdown on every possession in the first, third, and fourth quarters.

Brown was 1-6 for 8 yards in the second quarter.

“I can’t remember all five incompletions, but a couple of them definitely involved the rain,” Freeze said. “On the other hand, I believe he started the second half 8-8. I don’t know what he was, maybe 9-11 in the second half with three TDs,” Freeze said. “That’s pretty solid. I think we’ll take that performance, and hopefully he’ll be more confident next week in the plan.”

Brown doesn’t have the speed that Thorne possesses. The only play where Brown made it on the rushing stats was when he had to keep it on a busted play. He doesn’t have the arm strength of reserve QB Holden Geriner either, as Geriner was called on for the final play of the first half to attempt a Hail Mary. Brown’s career numbers are 27 of 39 for 463 yards with 6 touchdowns and no interceptions, and he’s yet to put on film that he isn’t the right man for the job.

However, the next three opponents on the schedule are Arkansas, Oklahoma, and at Georgia. So far Brown hasn’t seen anything like he will see the next three weeks.

“There’s nothing like experience,” Freeze said of Brown. “His has been very, very limited to a handful of possessions that you could count on one hand. Now he’s got a full game to look at and learn from. Every week is a new challenge. Everybody is a little different, and our expectations of protections change every week, and our checks. He’ll have a lot on his plate next week, but there’s nothing like experience for sure.

“He had a few misses throwing into blitzes that I’d like to see him get,” Freeze added. “That comes with experience. I thought it was a very solid night. His decision making was pretty good other than those two throws that kind of stand out in my mind, that I wish he would have thrown into blitzes. I thought he got us into the right checks early in the game. It was good to see him take the RPOs when he had them. I thought he had a solid, solid first game.”