Rift Between Hugh Freeze and Payton Thorne Continues to Grow

Every day it becomes more and more clear that Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze and quarterback Payton Thorne aren't on the same page.

Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze and quarterback Payton Thorne haven't seen eye to eye in 2024. / Mickey Welsh / Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK

Sideline spats nearly never end well for any of the participants, but particularly if it's a player going against the coach.

In the NFL this weekend we saw former Auburn Tigers quarterback Bo Nix give Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton a verbal return. Somewhat ironically, it was well received by his coach.

Meanwhile, back in the college ranks, current Tigers signal caller Payton Thorne was much more passive when his own boss Hugh Freeze once again sounded off at him during in-game action.

By and large, mum was still the word once again for Thorne when he joined The Next Round on Tuesday.

Dutifully, Thorne attempted to move on from the controversy.

"Yeah, I think it was a fourth-down play that was being looked at," Thorne said on The Next Round. "I won't get too much into it. I could explain what happened, but I don't think that would help our team. So I'll keep that one in-house.

“But I will say I did not check any play. It was something that we talked about on the sideline that I said what I saw and what it was, and then obviously you know our coaches saw after the game when they watched the film too what I was saying. So we've handled it. But now it's just moving forward and doing what we can to execute out there and to give ourselves the best chance to win the rest of the season."

Whatever criticism you can direct toward Thorne for his error-prone displays this season, it's beyond dispute that he's handled things superbly in front of a microphone.

That doesn't mean Thorne should be regarded as taking things lying down, the veteran passer just wants to make his own case in a more composed manner.

Of course, Freeze had initially taken umbrage to Thorne going off script on a crucial 4th down while chasing the game against Georgia. Clearly, everyone has now taken a reset position on exactly what went down, so pick your own side with regard to that particular "Thorny" question.

Much like the rest of the Tigers 2 - 4 campaign to date, the agree-to-disagree moment speaks to the issues that run deeper within a program that is underperforming. 

Over the last couple of weeks, Freeze had even suggested that control would rest more with him on game day in order to plug the flow of miscommunication and turnovers.

Consequently, it's a dead give away that when Thorne detailed the thought process and routines, he lifted the lid on recurring levels of confusion and fractures between quarterback and head coach.

"Usually I'd be standing next to coach or next to our assistant quarterback coach and hearing what the ideas are, because obviously I don't have a headset on and Freeze isn't talking through my mic at the time, he's talking with the coaching staff about what they like," Thorne revealed."So I'll hear some of the ideas and I'll get to chime in too, like, 'Hey, I really like that one.' Or, 'I don't know if we're really going to get the look we want there.'  

"But this past weekend I was just standing there and I didn't really have too much of a say-so in it. I didn't really hear what the ideas were until the final one. So I was just standing with the guys, talking with the receivers about possible things that we could get. And then just relying on the coaches to get that play put together."

For as much as Thorne and Freeze might stoically hold the line right now, it's pretty obvious that they've undoubtedly drifted apart more than ever. 

It remains to be seen how long Tigers fans will have to suffer through the failed relationship between Thorne and Freeze. Thorne is out of eligibility this year, and Freeze may decide to turn in a different direction during the bye week.