Hugh Freeze Reveals Progress of Quarterback Payton Thorne - 'Really Proud'

Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze is ready to place a heavier load on quarterback Payton Thorne who has made his coach "really proud."

Auburn Tigers quarterback Payton Thorne will shoulder a heavy load in 2024. / Austin Perryman, Auburn University Athletics

One year spent in an offensive system could quite honestly be measured in dog years, simply absorbing all the relevant information takes precious time. 

Last season, you could say that quarterback Auburn Tigers quarterback Payton Thorne was put tight in behind the eight-ball, furthermore, he was also clean out of escape shots. He arrived late on campus and got a crash course in Freeze's offensive system.

The results were mixed at best.

Fast forward that aforementioned dog year acclimatizing in the Freeze offense, and the quantum leap forward for the experienced Thorne is plain to see now that he's in year two

"We're totally different than last year," Coach Freeze said on Friday. "In the spring until now, his understanding of what the expectations are from him have grown leaps and bounds. He does some things out there right now that I'm really, really proud. That doesn't mean he always executes it exactly right, but he's thinking the right way. And I think that only comes with reps and meetings that we have to understand what I really want you to get out of this play if this happens."

Assimilating all the relevant information and sifting through sheer complexity wasn't beyond the cerebral qualities of the former Michigan Spartans QB, he was unquestionably just learning on the hoof.

This offseason has seen coach Freeze accept a lot of the blame for his starting signal callers misfires during year one, simply restoring his passers confidence was step one in the process.

Step two has been to build Thorne back toward being the kind of quarterback who knows the system he is running in order to make the right kind of call at the line of scrimmage and in the huddle.

Time spent on the practice field has been vital for just that to gradually fall into place, especially with the extremely-young group of receivers being called into the fray, but Freeze feels they're working things out.

"We can sit in that room and write a whole board of 'if', then' statements and we do, truthfully," Freeze explained the way they do business. "So that's a lot on that guy from me because I don't like looking at a film after the game and saying this play (had) zero chance against the defense that was called. That's a bad feeling.

"I just believe in coaching that position to where we are in the right thing. And I know that's maybe a lot on them, but that's why you have to have those meetings and reps and show them the things that could go bad. We won't get it all right, but we sure want to look at the film and say, 'Man, we had 90 percent of our plays.' You might miss a one=on-one block or the one-on-one route because they are pretty good on the other side of the ball, too. Schematically and structurally we gave us the best chance.

"That's the expectation, Kent (Austin) and I need to do a great job making sure we teach it the correct way forward."

What's particularly telling is that Freeze has never given off the impression that he feels he's overloading the plate of his quarterback. 

All of which points to a player who Freeze truly  feels has the brain and broad shoulders enough to deal with both the study aspect of the offense, and maybe most importantly, when things will inevitably go wrong.

Make no bones about it, Freeze is trusting in Thorne leading this team in the huddle and relaying the right information correctly under pressure.

Every quarterback who's ever played the game wants added responsibility and to be empowered to call the shots in the heat of battle - Thorne is earning that trust from Freeze.