Is Hugh Freeze really going to roll with Auburn's current quarterback room again in 2024?
Auburn will hold its spring game Saturday, and Tigers fans will get their latest look at quarterback Payton Thorne and a passing attack that struggled to take flight last season.
By all accounts, Thorne has had a solid spring, but are the Tigers really going to do this dance again with the former Michigan State transfer?
It appears so?
Hugh Freeze doesn’t strike me as a guy who likes to hit the tables or play a little cards, but Auburn’s second-year head coach seems willing to gamble that Thorne, or Holden Geriner or Hank Brown, can lead the program to more wins in 2024. Auburn is really high on Walker White, but the Tigers don’t seem ready to roll with the freshman signee this fall.
Since the end of last season, Freeze has defended his quarterback room, and even before Auburn’s bowl game, he announced that Throne would be the team’s starting quarterback for 2024.
But then Throne, who has over 8,000 career passing yards with 65 touchdowns and 33 interceptions, was so bad against Maryland (13 of 27 for 84 yards, one touchdown and one pick) that he was benched and Freeze reversed course and said Auburn would have an open competition this spring.
Notably, Auburn didn’t hit the portal for a quarterback during the winter window, and the Tigers don’t appear to be in the market for one in two weeks, either.
Freeze continues to endorse Thorne as the leader in the clubhouse, but on Tuesday, he said that the battle would extend into fall camp.
“Payton will still be in the lead, pole position come fall camp,” he said. “I do think the gap’s not very far from him and Hank and Holden.”
He later added, “Payton is going to be in it. … We’ve done a good job getting them (all) a bunch of reps in spring.
“It’s probably hurt Payton some, because he hasn’t gotten as many. But we feel like he’ll be fine come fall camp. We really need to solidify who’s really competing for the starting job, thus being the backup whichever way that goes by fall camp. We probably have to do that a week into fall camp. No more.”
Will Freeze dip into the transfer portal for more quarterback help?
Hugh Freeze knows a helluva a lot more about coaching quarterbacks than I do, but this strikes me as a very curious and strange path to take considering what Freeze watched just a year ago.
Last spring, Freeze endorsed both TJ Finley, who ended up starring at Texas State last season, and Robby Ashford, who is now at South Carolina, as capable starters, but Auburn’s coach changed his mind after the spring window and looked to add another quarterback to the roster after missing out on the first portal window. He added Throne, but the Michigan State transfer wasn’t seen as a major needle-mover and the results played out as such.
For the second straight season, Auburn’s passing game was atrocious. In 2022, the Tigers completed just 51.6% of throws with just nine touchdowns (as many as freaking Navy!) to 12 interceptions.
Last season in Freeze’s offense, they were marginally better, completing 59.6% of their passes with 18 touchdowns and 13 picks. They still ranked in the 120s nationally in passing, though, and in both years, they averaged just 6.7 yards per attempt.
So why roll with this same group again in a pivotal Year 2?
Thorne is a capable RPO quarterback who can threaten opponents with his legs, but he’s not a consistent downfield passer and he turns the ball over too much. We don’t know enough about Brown or Geriner yet, but the fact neither have separated themselves or taken the job away from Throne at least speaks to either their inexperience or limitations, too.
“Payton is still the most consistent, probably, and should be,” Freeze said earlier this spring.
“He’s had the most reps and the most understanding of what defenses can do to you. … Our decision-making has not been exactly what I want it to be just yet, but, boy, they’re hungry to learn.”
The fact that the competition will go into training camp for the second straight fall isn’t a good thing.
Freeze has already yo-yo’d on Thorne as Auburn’s 2024 starter and now he’s still not sure he’s the team’s definitive QB1?
Are we sure he isn’t going to swing for a quarterback who enters the portal?
The rest of Auburn’s offense is in a much better spot than it was a year ago. The Tigers inked a Top 10 recruiting class, including signing 5-star wideout Cam Coleman, who has been a star during the spring, and Top-100 receiver Perry Thompson.
They added Georgia State playmaker Robert Lewis, too, and feel the offensive line has more experience and depth (Mississippi State transfer tackle Percy Lewis as a good get) than it did a year ago. Tailbacks Jarquez Hunter and Damari Alston are also back.
Quarterback is once again the biggest question mark, though.
With eight home games on the docket and no Texas, Ole Miss or LSU on the slate, Auburn has the schedule to win nine games in 2024, but does it have a quarterback capable of leading the program to that many victories?
I don’t think Thorne, Brown or Geriner is that guy, but clearly, Freeze sees something in the group. But after Saturday’s A-Day Game, will he continue to put lipstick on a pig, or will he once again change his mind — something he’s done more than once with his QB room since he arrived on the Plains — and hit the portal to find Auburn’s missing piece?