Payton Thorne is QB1

[toddc 13,194]

Thorne: ‘When you win, people remember you’

AUBURN | Payton Thorne has yet to take a snap at Auburn. He doesn’t know if he’ll be here one or two years.

But the Tigers’ starting quarterback knows exactly how he wants to leave Auburn.

“You always want to leave a place better than you found it, whether that's when you sit down and eat at a table, or when you show up and play football games,” said Thorne. So, my focus … revolves around winning. And there's a lot of things that go into winning.

Thorne was named QB1 last week. (Austin Perryman/Auburn athletics)

“When you win, people remember you. When you win a lot of games, people really remember you. Doing everything I can to put myself in a good position for success, which ultimately helps our team succeed. You leave a legacy by doing things the right way, by working hard. And so that's what I'm focused on, and I believe that if I can accomplish that, then good things will come from that.”

Thorne, 6-foot-2 and 203 pounds, played in plenty of big games in three years at Michigan State, throwing for 6,494 yards and 49 touchdowns.

He understands the pressure of playing quarterback and competing against some of the nation’s top programs.

“Obviously, it's a big responsibility,” said Thorne of playing at Auburn. “We have a huge fan base. We have a lot of people that put a lot of time into this football program; a lot of people that care a lot about us. I take that responsibility very seriously, and I care about it more than anybody.

“I definitely understand the position that I'm in, and I'm blessed and thankful for that. And I think the best way to deal with that pressure is just to, for me and what I believe in, is I believe that my Heavenly Father's in control and if I turn everything over to him, then I'll be at peace with whatever happens as long as I do everything I can. I'm going to work as hard as I can.”

Thorne believes he has the accuracy and quick-thinking ability to thrive in Auburn’s up-tempo, RPO offense led by head coach Hugh Freeze and offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery.

He’s already put in many hours of work learning and preparing for the season and to accomplish his goals.

“My goal is just to win as many games as we can and to expect to win every time we walk out there, and I believe that starts with preparation,” he said. “So that goes to the daily and the weekly goals of being prepared every week for when we step on the field, and for me personally when I take that snap behind center, knowing that I've done everything I can to be best prepared for that game, mentally, physically, emotionally, all that stuff.”

Auburn opens the season Sept. 2 against UMass at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT on ESPN.

[Gowebb11 9,427]

1 hour ago, toddc said:

Jordan-Hare Stadium

These words alone are enough to get excited about. 

[LPTiger 5,202]

One of our OLs said it very early on, this kid/young man is a natural born leader.   He is about to experience just how much Auburn can love you back.   It is a very special feeling.   He risked a lot coming to AU.   Those who risk a lot may be rewarded with even more.

[3rdgeneration 6,471]

I’m very excited about Peyton Thorne.  He seems like a genuinely great young man. He expresses himself well in a thoughtful and intelligent manner. And I probably speak for most the women in here, he’s not bad to look at!!!

(We’re  fortunate. All our QBs are pretty dang cute! 😁)

[gr82be 14,502]

20 minutes ago, 3rdgeneration said:

I’m very excited about Peyton Thorne.  He seems like a genuinely great young man. He expresses himself well in a thoughtful and intelligent manner. And I probably speak for most the women in here, he’s not bad to look at!!!

(We’re  fortunate. All our QBs are pretty dang cute! 😁)

That reminds me of several years ago when I was at a work function. A woman there, who had relocated from St Louis and knew little about Auburn football was present at a conversation I was involved in. The topic got around to Brandon Cox and she suddenly spoke up and said, "oooh the hottie". 

Edited August 24, 2023 by gr82be

[broomnest 1]

Hopefully, RA and HG both learned something from TJ. 

[Hank2020 3,224]

10 hours ago, 3rdgeneration said:

I’m very excited about Peyton Thorne.  He seems like a genuinely great young man. He expresses himself well in a thoughtful and intelligent manner. And I probably speak for most the women in here, he’s not bad to look at!!!

(We’re  fortunate. All our QBs are pretty dang cute! 😁)

Thats worth at least 5 more TD’s/year/QB. Need to add that to the QB rating process. Lol

[broomnest 1]

I’m very excited about Peyton Thorne.  He seems like a genuinely great young man.  krnl download hdstreamz.uno
 

[aucanucktiger 1,805]

I pointed to LSU in August as Thorne's make or break game which now seems overstated but as expected, we probably must beat 2 of LSU, Miss St and Ole Miss to be bowl eligible. If Thorne is still playing mercurial football against LSU, it's hard to imagine Freeze sticking with him in a rebuilding year when a promising youngster like Geringer is on the bench.

[Hank2020 3,224]

5 minutes ago, aucanucktiger said:

I pointed to LSU in August as Thorne's make or break game which now seems overstated but as expected, we probably must beat 2 of LSU, Miss St and Ole Miss to be bowl eligible. If Thorne is still playing mercurial football against LSU, it's hard to imagine Freeze sticking with him in a rebuilding year when a promising youngster like Geringer is on the bench.

I think he stays with Thorne unless an injury occurs.

[AUINSY 2,228]

With the streak of QBs who have left here, and the success that they’ve had, I’m more concerned about our receivers than the quarterbacks 

[AUpreacherman22 3,892]

2 hours ago, aucanucktiger said:

I pointed to LSU in August as Thorne's make or break game which now seems overstated but as expected, we probably must beat 2 of LSU, Miss St and Ole Miss to be bowl eligible. If Thorne is still playing mercurial football against LSU, it's hard to imagine Freeze sticking with him in a rebuilding year when a promising youngster like Geringer is on the bench.

1.  We have Vandy, NMSU, and Arky on the schedule.  We could theoretically go 0-3 against the 3 you mentioned and still be bowl eligible.  
2.   He’s going to ride with Thorne for the most part regardless.   There just isn’t a better option on the roster right now.   He has shown improvement in his limited time here.  I expect we’ll at least be serviceable with him by the end of the year.   
3.  The surrounding cast of whoever is playing QB is an issue as well.  We’ve got to improve across the board to start having success on offense.  

[tbone4jc 2,241]

We win against MSU, Vandy and the cupcakes to get us to 7 wins. We have a chance against UAT but I am not seeing us beating them this season. Slim chance for an upset against the corn dogs. To me the Ole Piss game will be interesting

[Old fan 47 775]

18 hours ago, AUpreacherman22 said:

1.  We have Vandy, NMSU, and Arky on the schedule.  We could theoretically go 0-3 against the 3 you mentioned and still be bowl eligible.  
2.   He’s going to ride with Thorne for the most part regardless.   There just isn’t a better option on the roster right now.   He has shown improvement in his limited time here.  I expect we’ll at least be serviceable with him by the end of the year.   
3.  The surrounding cast of whoever is playing QB is an issue as well.  We’ve got to improve across the board to start having success on offense.  

Agreed. Thorne hasn’t all of a sudden forgotten how to play the QB position. He has played against some big time programs during his career, so my take is this: He’s been holding the ball a second too long, he only has a couple of WR’s that can catch the ball when hit in the hands with it and this is nowhere near his normal offense from his past two years. I don’t see RA doing anything, because no team respects his ability to complete passes, plus our O line has been less than stellar, so that’s why our tailbacks haven’t looked too good, especially JH. I do now believe he is more of a complimentary back instead of an RB1.  For some reason though, I’m thinking this game goes much different than most think. Not saying we win it, but I think we make an even bigger statement in the toughest stadium for AU to play in. I do hope we win 6, because 15 extra practices never hurt any team. 

[AUpreacherman22 3,892]

1 hour ago, Old fan 47 said:

I do hope we win 6, because 15 extra practices never hurt any team. 

There’s a lot of football between now and then, but we should win 6 or 7 games!   We should be favored against NMSU, Vandy, and MSU.   Arky and OM are winnable games, especially if our defense is healthy(ish).   Again, if we’re healthy enough to field a decent team by then, I like the way we matchup with bama.  They’ve got much more talent than us, but we will have defended several offenses more explosive by then, and their defense, although rounding into form, isn’t the typical nasty bama D.  Factor in a raucous JHS crowd, and you’ve got a pretty good recipe for an upset.   If we win those first 3 and then one of the others, we finish 7-5.   It’s definitely doable!🤞🤞🤞

[bigbird 60,580]

2 hours ago, AUpreacherman22 said:

There’s a lot of football between now and then, but we should win 6 or 7 games!   We should be favored against NMSU, Vandy, and MSU.   Arky and OM are winnable games, especially if our defense is healthy(ish).   Again, if we’re healthy enough to field a decent team by then, I like the way we matchup with bama.  They’ve got much more talent than us, but we will have defended several offenses more explosive by then, and their defense, although rounding into form, isn’t the typical nasty bama D.  Factor in a raucous JHS crowd, and you’ve got a pretty good recipe for an upset.   If we win those first 3 and then one of the others, we finish 7-5.   It’s definitely doable!🤞🤞🤞

LSU - W

OM - W

MSU - W

Vandy - W

Arky - W

NMSU - W

Bama - W 

 

LSU is winnable and I predicted we would after the bye.

OM will be tough but JHS at night is a W 

Bama is not a good team. 

 

I think our D matches up really well against every team we have left and our struggling passing game finally matches against a struggling secondary tomorrow. OM's O is dangerous but we again match up well. 

[Gowebb11 9,427]

27 minutes ago, bigbird said:

LSU - W

OM - W

MSU - W

Vandy - W

Arky - W

NMSU - W

Bama - W 

 

LSU is winnable and I predicted we would after the bye.

OM will be tough but JHS at night is a W 

Bama is not a good team. 

 

I think our D matches up really well against every team we have left and our struggling passing game finally matches against a struggling secondary tomorrow. OM's O is dangerous but we again match up well. 

LSU is playing their 5th SEC game in a row and the last 3 were late 4th quarter games. I’m hoping we’re catching a physically and emotionally tired team at the perfect time. 
 

I’m hopeful vs OM because we’re at home, we can eat clock and run the ball, and their defense gets gassed fast when they’re forced to pursue side to side a lot. 

[bigbird 60,580]

27 minutes ago, Gowebb11 said:

LSU is playing their 5th SEC game in a row and the last 3 were late 4th quarter games. I’m hoping we’re catching a physically and emotionally tired team at the perfect time. 
 

I’m hopeful vs OM because we’re at home, we can eat clock and run the ball, and their defense gets gassed fast when they’re forced to pursue side to side a lot. 

Yep. To me, the backend doesn't look too bad. 

[SumterAubie 3,033]

1 hour ago, bigbird said:

LSU - W

OM - W

MSU - W

Vandy - W

Arky - W

NMSU - W

Bama - W 

 

LSU is winnable and I predicted we would after the bye.

OM will be tough but JHS at night is a W 

Bama is not a good team. 

 

I think our D matches up really well against every team we have left and our struggling passing game finally matches against a struggling secondary tomorrow. OM's O is dangerous but we again match up well. 

[AURex 2,054]

2 hours ago, bigbird said:

LSU - W

OM - W

MSU - W

Vandy - W

Arky - W

NMSU - W

Bama - W 

 

LSU is winnable and I predicted we would after the bye.

OM will be tough but JHS at night is a W 

Bama is not a good team. 

 

I think our D matches up really well against every team we have left and our struggling passing game finally matches against a struggling secondary tomorrow. OM's O is dangerous but we again match up well. 

Gee, I sure hope so, but gee, I really doubt it.

 

[AUpreacherman22 3,892]

3 hours ago, bigbird said:

LSU - W

OM - W

MSU - W

Vandy - W

Arky - W

NMSU - W

Bama - W 

 

LSU is winnable and I predicted we would after the bye.

OM will be tough but JHS at night is a W 

Bama is not a good team. 

 

I think our D matches up really well against every team we have left and our struggling passing game finally matches against a struggling secondary tomorrow. OM's O is dangerous but we again match up well. 

Wow Bird!!!   I love your optimism!!!   I hope you’re right!!!   And I thought my 7-5 prediction was optimistic!😁

[bigbird 60,580]

6 hours ago, AURex said:

Gee, I sure hope so, but gee, I really doubt it.

 

Gee, I'm shocked

[bigbird 60,580]

6 hours ago, AUpreacherman22 said:

Wow Bird!!!   I love your optimism!!!   I hope you’re right!!!   And I thought my 7-5 prediction was optimistic!😁

Look, our O has been pretty bad but we're still finding ways to be in games.  There are 3 potential tossups, LSU, OM, and Bama.  Two are at JHS at night and one is after our bye. We could win all 3 or, just as easily, lose all 3 with this team.  Will we? We could and therefore I'm choosing hope.

It's gonna start clicking for some of our players the more reps they get. Who's to say it doesn't start today. 

Let today be our NEW day!

War Damn Eagle! 

[Sizzle 3,920]

11 hours ago, bigbird said:

LSU - W

OM - W

MSU - W

Vandy - W

Arky - W

NMSU - W

Bama - W 

 

LSU is winnable and I predicted we would after the bye.

OM will be tough but JHS at night is a W 

Bama is not a good team. 

 

I think our D matches up really well against every team we have left and our struggling passing game finally matches against a struggling secondary tomorrow. OM's O is dangerous but we again match up well. 

If Bama ain’t a good team then what the hell is Auburn then? All the teams listed are definitely beatable don’t get me wrong but come on........

[bigbird 60,580]

1 minute ago, Sizzle said:

If Bama ain’t a good team then what the hell is Auburn then? All the teams listed are definitely beatable don’t get me wrong but come on........

How's their OL?

How's their QB situation?

OC? 

They aren't the same team that they have been.  Don't get fooled by the hype and mystique. They match up poorly against our D.