Jordan Rodgers defends Hugh Freeze's controversial quarterback criticisms after Arkansas loss

Auburn has gotten off to an up-and-down start to the 2024 season, flipping starting quarterbacks twice already as it seeks improvement at the position and overall.

During Saturday’s game against Oklahoma, ABC broadcaster Jordan Rodgers opened up on a recent conversation he had with Tigers coach Hugh Freeze.

Freeze, of course, has taken a little bit of heat for being so up front about how poor his quarterback play has been this season. For Rodgers, that’s just part of coaching.

“I love the honesty. We like to complicate football a lot of times,” Rodgers said. “Sometimes it’s just like, ‘Hey, you should have thrown it here and you threw it to the other team.’ And I watched film actually on Friday, yesterday, with Hugh Freeze in his office just going through some of those things. He was like, ‘This is what I’m trying to get my quarterback to see. Don’t make the play that’s the difficult one, make the one that’s right in front of you.’ And I think that’s what he needs to see out of Payton Thorne.”

Thorne seems to be reinvigorated by his benching for Hank Brown, and his second life as the starter, producing right away against Oklahoma.

The former Michigan State quarterback transfer opened the game 9-of-14 passing for 171 yards and two touchdowns. He threw touchdown strikes of 48 yards and 31 yards early in the contest.

And he didn’t turn it over. That’s exactly what Freeze was looking for.

Whatever Auburn has changed or whatever Thorne has grasped hold of, it seems to be working. And Freeze admitted he might tweak some things on his end, too.

“I love it. That’s what I miss about playing is just being in the film room just talking ball,” Rodgers said. “You know, he took a ton of ownership, too. He’s like, ‘Look, I’ve got to call some better plays.’ And he went through a couple scenarios where the call could have been better. But there’s a lot of decision-making that needs to improve from the quarterback position.”

With an early 14-7 lead over Oklahoma, Auburn appears to be in position to turn things around. For Rodgers, that’s not a huge surprise.

He summed up Auburn’s early season woes rather succinctly.

“This team doesn’t have an offensive problem,” he said. “They’re one of the best in the country in yards per play. They’ve just got a turnover problem right now.”

Eliminate those and Thorne and the Tigers might just be cooking. Early on Saturday that certainly seems to be the case.