Mike Elko breaks down what he has seen in Payton Thorne

When Texas A&M heads to Jordan-Hare Stadium, one of the SEC’s more experienced quarterbacks will be on the other side. Payton Thorne is in his second season with Auburn but has starting experience dating back to his time with Michigan State. A tough challenge is ahead of the Aggies, especially with somebody like Hugh Freeze calling plays.

Heading into the matchup, Mike Elko broke down what he had seen from Thorne on tape. Elko was highly complimentary of the ability Thorne has. Something he specifically noticed was Thorne being confident in their recent game against Louisiana-Monroe.

“I think he has the talent and arm talent to make explosive plays,” Elko said. “Last week, I think he looked like he was coming off a bye. Maybe a little fresher, little healthier. Really confident in where he wanted to go with the football. Stepped into throws and delivered really well. I think you’ve seen that at times.”

Thorne completed 22 of 32 throws, going for 286 yards and five touchdowns. Certainly the type of performance the quarterback needed heading into this final two-game stretch. Add in a bye week and the confidence coming from Auburn’s offense has to be at an all-time high.

Elko did point out the stats are not too bad for Freeze’s bunch. Auburn sits seventh in offensive yards per game and sixth in passing yards, from a conference perspective. Jarquez Hunter has proven to be one of the best running backs in the SEC as well, already surpassing 1,000 yards on the season. Not the level you would expect a 4-6 team to be at.

Timely turnovers have been a big issue but Elko believes if Auburn can play mistake-free football, they will be a threat.

“They’ve been very productive on offense all year… They had some turnover issues in critical moments in some of their early games,” Elko said. “I think that just shot them in the foot. But when you put the tape on, play in and play out, it’s another really talented SEC football team. It will be a big challenge for us.”