Auburn HC Hugh Freeze Positive About QB Payton Thorne's Offseason Progress

The arrow is pointed up on Auburn second-year quarterback Payton Thorne.

Auburn Tigers quarterback Payton Thorne / Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK

Auburn Tigers quarterback Payton Thorne is entering year two on the Plains. His first year wasn’t pretty, but there are indications that he could take a step forward this year. 

Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze said Thorne is starting to click with the system and has been impressive at times in camp.  

“I think Payton is gaining an understanding of my mind and (Derrick) Nix’s mind on how we see this offense operating and what we depend upon him to fix,” Freeze said. “Had some really good moments where he did some things that made me go, ‘All right, that was smart.’ And then it's all about him understanding what the fixes are, particularly in our RPO game and in our protection game.”

Thorne started all 13 games, including the bowl game for Auburn in 2023. He threw 16 touchdown passes to 10 interceptions. Thorne also struggled to avoid defenders in the pocket getting sacked a career-high 31 times. 

But he also completed 61.1% of his passes, which is roughly the completion percentage he recorded during his successful seasons at Michigan State. His scoring production was down but he still found his receivers. 

However, that didn’t prevent Auburn from having the worst passing game in the SEC last season with just 162.2 total passing yards per game. Quarterback is the obvious position to blame for that low production.

Thorne’s performance rightfully received criticism. But Freeze is hoping to leave in the past. 

“I really don’t want to remember last year,” he said. “But I don’t want to set him up for undue criticism or anything. Obviously, quarterbacks are going to have that if you don’t have success. They’re going to get all the praise if you do have success.” 

Freeze expressed his content with the work Thorne has put in and the confidence he is building with the team he has around him. 

“I’m pleased with exactly where he is,” said Freeze. “The work we’ve done in the offseason to understand each other has been beneficial. I can see it. I think he’s very confident. 

“And obviously, having guys he feels like can win at the top end of the route is helpful to eliminate some of that hesitation. That makes for a really bad, bad decision.”

Auburn is looking to improve upon its 6-7 (3-5 SEC) finish in 2023. The Tigers were in a lot of close games against tough opponents despite having that glaring deficiency in their passing game. 

Any rise in the passing game production at Auburn could lead to a significant improvement in the SEC standings for the Tigers.