Hugh Freeze admits Auburn staff 'has let down' Payton Thorne with preparation

Auburn hasn’t quite gotten what it has wanted out of the quarterback position this fall despite the addition of Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne, but coach Hugh Freeze remains optimistic the Tigers can sort things out.

They’ve worked extensively with Thorne on the issues that have consistently popped up in the team’s first four games.

“We had a good meeting Sunday night,” Freeze said Wednesday on an SEC teleconference call. “I feel like there are things our staff has let him down on. Some of it is him and he knows that and owns it. I promised him we would do a better job coaching him this week and preparing him. When you say coaching him, it means also the other positions need to be in the right spot at the right time for him.”

Some of the major issues for Thorne have been with accuracy, and he’s coming off his least accurate game of the season against Texas A&M. He finished just 6-of-12 for 44 yards in the contest as Auburn’s offense struggled to move the ball.

That won’t cut it going forward.

On top of the accuracy concerns, Thorne has been a little slower than Freeze would like at recognizing open routes and firing the football.

“He understands the game from a mental perspective and when the ball is snapped, he knows ‘This dig should be the throw’ and if it’s not the right time from the receiver, it throws him off,” Freeze explained. “Obviously, that leads to sacks. We’ve got to do a better job of helping him with that. At the same time, when you have a wheel route that is wide open, you got to hit it. Or a seam route. He seemed distracted in the pocket so we worked on pocket presence a good bit this week.”

Thorne’s pocket presence is naturally under question a bit after a game in which he was sacked five times. Already this season he has taken five sacks, while he has thrown three interceptions against just four touchdown tosses.

If the Tigers are going to have a positive first season under Freeze, it’s critical that Payton Thorne gets things going as the heart of SEC play approaches.

Auburn won’t survive many more games like last Saturday at Texas A&M.

“This thing has got to turn to a positive vibe somehow and it takes some mental toughness to do that on his part and our part,” Freeze said. “In the coming weeks, we need to see some progress.”