Payton Thorne impresses Hugh Freeze with 'intrinsic' leadership qualities since arrival

NASHVILLE, Tenn — Since former Michigan State quarterback Payton Thorne arrived on campus at Auburn, head coach Hugh Freeze has been impressed.

“What I’ve been impressed with is his attention to detail, his desire to learn the system, be a leader, have position group meetings,” Freeze said on Tuesday at SEC Media Days. “He’s definitely, he has those leadership qualities.”

As an example, Freeze told a story about a recent unusual request from Thorne.

“One of the first questions he asked me is could I get someone to get him a picture of everyone who works in the building because he wants to know their names,” Freeze said. “He’s got some intrinsic things about him that you like.”

During the summer, coaches aren’t able to personally coach or watch players practice, but Freeze said, “I love what I’ve seen from him in the leadership world.”

Thorne’s adjustment to Auburn’s offense might take time

The Auburn football program is searching for a major turnaround after firing coach Bryan Harsin less than two years into his tenure, and Michigan State quarterback Payton Thorne will be a big part of those turnaround plans.

The Tigers suffered from mostly abysmal quarterback play a year ago, and getting someone that could come in and compete for the starting job alongside Robby Ashford was key.

But it won’t necessarily be an instant solution, On3’s JD PicKell warns.

“Payton Thorne is showing up and this is going to be a brand new offense to him, a brand new staff, brand new teammates,” PicKell said. “It takes some time to mesh at any position if you miss spring practice, let alone as the quarterback. And this offense is going to go through the quarterback.”

Thorne had two very strong seasons with the Spartans in 2021 and 2022, amassing 5,919 passing yards with 46 touchdowns and 21 interceptions.

He’s not a huge running threat, totaling 223 yards and five touchdowns over the last two years. Even so, there will be a lot for him to juggle as he picks up the new scheme.

“The RPO scheme you put a lot on the quarterback’s plate, and whether or not you’re asking him to do a ton physically, you’re asking him to do a ton mentally from being up to speed with the scheme and knowing where to go with the football,” PicKell said.

“Because I’ll tell you this: in that RPO system, that decision-making process has to happen right away. It’s one of the things that I liked about Payton Thorne when he came from Michigan State, but in this offense under Hugh Freeze you have like a nanosecond to recognize what that second-level defender is doing while you’re in the mesh point with the running back and to decided, ‘OK, do I give it? And if I don’t give it I’ve got to pull and I’ve got to throw right away.’ That’s kind of the approach here offensively for Auburn, to break it down a little bit.”

The good news is that Thorne might not have to be the singular answer right away. Ashford had the luxury of going through spring practice in Freeze’s new system and looked decent.

He’s got some serious running ability, a wrinkle that Freeze will likely find ways to use even if Thorne gets the lion’s share of the snaps at quarterback.

The sooner Thorne can get up to speed, though, the better.

“There’s so much about this offense that is predicated on timing and predicated on being comfortable in the system,” PicKell said. “And so I’m not saying Payton Thorne can’t still get comfortable in the system, my concern is that the length of time that he has to get comfortable in the system is a much smaller window than you would prefer and likely, to be honest with you, need to be as successful as you want to be successful at Auburn this coming season. So that makes me nervous.

“The most important person on your team, your likely starting quarterback, trying to get up to speed as quickly as possible, it’s very, very difficult across the board on your roster to mesh and do it in the toughest conference in college football.”