2024 QB Portal Thread

[LPTiger 5,173]

17 minutes ago, HabitualChiller said:

Throne isn't a starter by any stretch of the imagination. Even McCall for one year could potentially net us an extra 2-3 wins. 

This is an over-reach IMO.   We won 6 games with him as the starter and should have won both of UGA and Bama.  Would we be down on Thorne if we were 8-4 rn?  It took the staff  8 games to realize the QB shuffle was not working.  Remember the interception in the second half of the UGA game that went right through Riley's arms and belly?  If he completes that catch we win the game.   Remember the D giving up 200 yards of offense and 3 scores on UGA's last 3 possessions?  Complete back breaker.   Also, our offensive game plan was way too predictable at times this year.   We were in a rut of run on 1st down, get behind the chains and then have to throw.   Thorne has shown he gives you a chance to win 8 games without a single stud receiver around him.    8 wins is probably our ceiling in 24 no matter who is taking snaps.

[Mikey 16,711]

Which one would be a dead-solid upgrade from Thorne the day he walked onto campus? Which of the younger ones are certain to be better than Geriner/White? I'm not so sure we can do anything but muddy the water with a borderline transfer QB. If he's not a lead pipe cinch to be QB1 lets leave him out there and work with what we've got.

[PotPot 166]

Payton Thorne + upgraded OL + upgraded WR >>> (by far) >>> than (insert stud QB name) + same old OL + same old WR. 

[Paladin 3,305]

 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,716]

Yeah I don’t think Thorne is particularly great, but we’re not competing for a championship anyway. No reason to blow the bag on a championship caliber QB with a meh roster otherwise 

[Old fan 47 775]

22 hours ago, PigskinPat said:

 

Were grades his problem with not coming to AU last year? He seems to fit the bill of this O. 

[nurbis 573]

Thorne was a 3000 yard passer at Michigan State. Nix is a 4000 yard passer at Oregon. I don't think the QB issues are just because of a lack of capability at the position and I don't think capability is even the primary issue.  There is a reason bama's quarterbacks are Heisman QBs when passing behind a 5 star O-line to 5 star receivers and why a walk-on QB was able to win two titles at Georgia.   

[Paladin 3,305]

Wonder if he will follow Jonathan Smith to Michigan State or go pro?

 

[Hank2020 3,215]

2 hours ago, aucom96 said:

I don't really know what Thorne can do. We started out with a bad offensive line built of transfer bandaids and one of the worst group of receivers I've seen at Auburn. We didn't have a coherent offensive plan at all until late in the season, and that was largely built around read-option and the run... due to receivers who drop more than they catch. He has a good arm, seems to have adjusted more to the speed of the game and is a gutsy player. But no defense is going to worry about him or our passing game next season. We are still going to be patching an offense together with bandaids and that's going to keep us playing more option and running the ball. I'm much more wary of transfers after this past year. They can have good looking numbers due to their competition level and come to the SEC and be completely ineffective. If there is a difference making QB in the portal, it will cost us probably most of whatever we have in NIL to get them against numerous teams with bigger bank accounts. And we'll need that money to buy more patches on the lines, in the secondary, at receiver again...

NIL has really ruined this game, in my opinion. It's just the reality, now, but it's going to make things harder. 

As long as we understand that (going to be harder), we just find out who we got and support who we got, go from there.

[PigskinPat 2,579]

25 minutes ago, Old fan 47 said:

Were grades his problem with not coming to AU last year? He seems to fit the bill of this O. 

I believe we did not offer the major he was in at CC and we couldn’t make his hours transfer in a way to keep him eligible at Auburn. 

[alabastertiger 616]

15 hours ago, TeamZero77 said:

Freeze struggled to find a QB last year. He had to pick up Thorne late which screwed up everything because he only had fall camp here at AU. So if he struggled to land a QB last year, why does everybody think he will be able to pull a QB of his choosing this year?

Think about it, last year we had alot of hype behind us when the portal opened. The talk was that Freeze, Montgomery and Kent Austin were 3 offensive geniuses and all 3 were QB whisperers and we truly thought that QB's would be lining up to play for them due to their high scoring, pass happy offenses in their past. It didn't happen and then in the 9th inning Peyton Thorne just fell into our lap.

Fast forward to now; we are losing veteran O-Linemen, we are bringing in talented but young WR's and our offense absolutely sucked this year with these 3 offensive geniuses. So why would this year be so much easier to grab a really good portal QB compared to last year? I would argue last year would be the easiest because at that time nobody knew that our offense would be trash like it is. 

I know as Auburn fans we love to think we will be one of the top attractions for portal QB's but we haven't been. I argued back and forth last year that Freeze wasn't being "picky" when looking at QB's in the portal, he was just getting turned down. Our insiders wouldn't admit that though and kept beating that dead horse called Grayson McCall up until the last portal ended. All I'm saying is don't be shocked and hurt if we don't get a top QB in the portal or even a QB at all. Freeze hasn't said a single thing about Thorne NOT starting next season but our fans all think it's a done deal that he isn't QB1 and the fairytale portal QB will arrive to save the day.

Actually Freeze had who he wanted as QB last year in Grayson McCall, but that fell through because of grades right?

[aucanucktiger 1,798]

Grayson McCall is just as much a prototypical Freeze QB as he was last Spring when his grades/curriculum wouldn't transfer to Auburn or UF (both didnt hide desperately wanting him). The Dukey QB attraction is mutual too.

Fwiw, Geriner still has almost NO game data and Freeze's opinion of him last practice was outstanding but green. McCall is Geriner with experience - perfect mentor to bring him & white along. 

[Old fan 47 775]

22 minutes ago, PigskinPat said:

I believe we did not offer the major he was in at CC and we couldn’t make his hours transfer in a way to keep him eligible at Auburn. 

Oh okay. Hope we give him a look. 

[WDE_OxPx_2010 5,308]

44 minutes ago, Paladin said:

Wonder if he will follow Jonathan Smith to Michigan State or go pro?

 

He can do this because of a coaching change and be eligible immediately, right?

[Randman5000 4,229]

45 minutes ago, Paladin said:

Wonder if he will follow Jonathan Smith to Michigan State or go pro?

 

He's someone i can see doing well under freeze. Alittle inaccurate at times but can chuck it and can run for a 250 pound guy. 

[Hank2020 3,215]

26 minutes ago, Randman5000 said:

He's someone i can see doing well under freeze. Alittle inaccurate at times but can chuck it and can run for a 250 pound guy. 

Not really the guy you want for dual threat system. IMO

[tbone4jc 2,241]

58 minutes ago, Hank2020 said:

Not really the guy you want for dual threat system. IMO

I think he left Clemson because he is more of a DT QB and Dabo insisted he become a dropback QB, at least than was the talk here in NC.

[Hank2020 3,215]

14 minutes ago, tbone4jc said:

I think he left Clemson because he is more of a DT QB and Dabo insisted he become a dropback QB, at least than was the talk here in NC.

Gotcha, I just looked at his running stats and they weren’t very good at all, at either place.

[AUY2K 272]

Question is how much is Auburn willing to pay a QB to come here to push Thorne or possibly start?

Top Tier will be 2 million: Riley Leonard. Bidding war with ND.

Other than that I dont know how much McCall is worth or even for a 2-4yr qb such as MJ Morris at NC State.

I wonder what CHF game plan is - save the 2 million and split those funds among quality OL/DL transfers?  

It's a tough decision.  Pay big money now to bring in an NFL caliber QB to boost WR recruits to sign with Auburn 2024 class.?

Edited November 30, 2023 by AUY2K

[KansasTiger 3,254]

3 hours ago, aucanucktiger said:

Grayson McCall is just as much a prototypical Freeze QB as he was last Spring when his grades/curriculum wouldn't transfer to Auburn or UF (both didnt hide desperately wanting him). The Dukey QB attraction is mutual too.

Fwiw, Geriner still has almost NO game data and Freeze's opinion of him last practice was outstanding but green. McCall is Geriner with experience - perfect mentor to bring him & white along. 

If Geriner couldn't get playing time in the QB mess we had this season, he is not going to play a meaningful down for Auburn in his career. Hugh can say nice things, but he doesn't believe them, or we'd have seen him play over Robby, who by the end of the year, was providing almost no benefit but still getting some playing time.

[CCTAU 3,341]

3 hours ago, aucanucktiger said:

Grayson McCall is just as much a prototypical Freeze QB as he was last Spring when his grades/curriculum wouldn't transfer to Auburn or UF (both didnt hide desperately wanting him).

Last year he had 2 years left and would not be coming in to compete against a starter such as Thorne. So he would grow with the rest of the team and next season would be the breakout season for all. He was the perfect fit last year.

This year is more of a gamble for just one year.

[DAG 34,005]

45 minutes ago, KansasTiger said:

If Geriner couldn't get playing time in the QB mess we had this season, he is not going to play a meaningful down for Auburn in his career. Hugh can say nice things, but he doesn't believe them, or we'd have seen him play over Robby, who by the end of the year, was providing almost no benefit but still getting some playing time.

Hugh is the ultimate politician lol. When will people stop following the lip service ? Just look at the patterns .

[Hank2020 3,215]

1 minute ago, DAG said:

Hugh is the ultimate politician lol. When will people stop following the lip service ? Just look at the patterns .

Explain the patterns for us blind squirrels please.

[DAG 34,005]

11 minutes ago, Hank2020 said:

Explain the patterns for us blind squirrels please.

I never pay attention to what he says , only what he does. He is going to say just enough, but what he does is what matters.  How many times last year he made it seem like RA was on his s*** list or dropping down the depth chart? He never did it and he never was going to.  He does just enough to get his point across, keep people interested but not to ostracize himself or anyone else to no return. I am Sure he will pay all the QBs great compliments but that won’t stop him for bringing in a potential starter next year. 

[Paladin 3,305]