QB situation?

[eagle12 86]

What is the general opinion of all the QB play yesterday? I think they still need a transfer or maybe even giving the California transfer a chance. Just for extra insurance. 

[au701948 998]

25 minutes ago, eagle12 said:

What is the general opinion of all the QB play yesterday? I think they still need a transfer or maybe even giving the California transfer a chance. Just for extra insurance. 

Rotating 4 QB’s for the entirety of the “scrimmage” surely made things more difficult than normal. To add to the problem, each QB was playing with a different set of players.

i think the coaches worked to allow most everyone to participate at this point in Spring (or so it seemed to me) to maybe reward all for Spring Practice.

i genuinely do not think much was attempted to be shown given the parameters. There were a few highlights. However, not much continuity for lots of reasons. JMO

[WarEagle1983 2,185]

Probably too late for a portal QB. Right or wrong…(I think wrong) Hugh is going to roll with Thorne and hope he can get us to at least 8 wins to build on recruiting momentum at QB going forward. I just hope it all doesn’t fall off the rails and we lose half of the WR group in the process. 
 

It was only A-day but I still don’t have much faith in our starter to help us win 8 or 9 games. 
 

 

[Strychnine 1,802]

15 hours ago, au701948 said:

Rotating 4 QB’s for the entirety of the “scrimmage” surely made things more difficult than normal. To add to the problem, each QB was playing with a different set of players.

i think the coaches worked to allow most everyone to participate at this point in Spring (or so it seemed to me) to maybe reward all for Spring Practice.

i genuinely do not think much was attempted to be shown given the parameters. There were a few highlights. However, not much continuity for lots of reasons. JMO

2010 and 2013 taught me to not draw many conclusions from A-Day.

[JuscAUse! 1,410]

Most of the guys on the AU podcast shows thought that Thorne was by far the most consistent and accurate of them all. All 4 had a couple of really good throws but none were as consistent as Thorne, according to these people. I didn't see any of it, and haven't bothered since 2004, which was a waste of time. As they all are except for recruiting and getting to be in Auburn. 

[alabastertiger 613]

You could tell White's head is swimming.   He held onto the ball way too long.   Just too indecisive.   They should have counted 4 sacks against him.  He'll be a good one, but probably not this year.

[Win4AU 4,052]

If Holden hits the portal Auburn will have to grab another Qb from somewhere.  

[casatiger 513]

It's A-Day, but Holden should be showing signs that he is the next guy up and pushing Thorne.   He just does not seem to be taking that step.  IMO, HE either hits the portal or is reserved to be the eternal backup until he gets his degree and then move on as grad transfer perhaps.  

[DAG 33,983]

Thorne will and should be the guy. Only due to the fact the other guys are young and need time to grow. With that being said, I wouldn’t expect any major leaps in Individual play by him. Rely on the e young WRs, the running game and our stellar kickers. 

[shabby 1,958]

A seemingly unappreciated skill of Thorne is his ability to pull the ball and run. He makes really smart decisions with that and can be the mobile qb we need.

We will not be getting a portal qb. I'm not sure why anyone thinks that is a possibility.

[ScotsAU 1,331]

To the OP… I think the answer is “it depends who you ask.”

Glass half empty folks saw:

-Thorne didn’t really make any exceptional throws. His deep balls came out rather wobbly. He threw a few balls up for grabs. 

- Brown was inconsistent. He threw one deep pass successfully, but it was slightly over thrown, negating what could’ve been a TD. 
 

-Holden only three to check down receivers, and generated no explosive plays at all. 
 

-White was very inconsistent and seemed to be lost in the offense. 

Glass half full folks saw:

- Thorne did what the coaches have been wanting him to do since he arrived on campus. He operated the RPO system, made the right reads, and generally protected the football well. The few balls he did throw up for grabs went to Coleman, who showed out. It could be argued that Thorne just trusted Coleman enough to come down with those 50-50 balls. One time he did and scored. Another time, he drew a PI. 
 

-Brown may have some room to grow. But he showed flashes of potential for the future. 
 

-Holden took care of the football and managed the game. 
 

-White played reasonably well for his first  college game in front of fans. Like Brown, he has room to grow, but did well considering. 
 

I lean glass half full for everyone except Holden. I have no issue with the guy. I applaud his decision to stay and fight. But I also think Holden is a good example of why we should have the transfer portal. This RPO scheme is not his natural skill set. If he overcomes that disadvantage, he could be a very good QB. But it’s an uphill battle because our scheme relies on the things he’s struggling to do well. I think he should transfer somewhere that runs a pro scheme. 

[Old fan 47 772]

On 4/8/2024 at 3:15 PM, ScotsAU said:

To the OP… I think the answer is “it depends who you ask.”

Glass half empty folks saw:

-Thorne didn’t really make any exceptional throws. His deep balls came out rather wobbly. He threw a few balls up for grabs. 

- Brown was inconsistent. He threw one deep pass successfully, but it was slightly over thrown, negating what could’ve been a TD. 
 

-Holden only three to check down receivers, and generated no explosive plays at all. 
 

-White was very inconsistent and seemed to be lost in the offense. 

Glass half full folks saw:

- Thorne did what the coaches have been wanting him to do since he arrived on campus. He operated the RPO system, made the right reads, and generally protected the football well. The few balls he did throw up for grabs went to Coleman, who showed out. It could be argued that Thorne just trusted Coleman enough to come down with those 50-50 balls. One time he did and scored. Another time, he drew a PI. 
 

-Brown may have some room to grow. But he showed flashes of potential for the future. 
 

-Holden took care of the football and managed the game. 
 

-White played reasonably well for his first  college game in front of fans. Like Brown, he has room to grow, but did well considering. 
 

I lean glass half full for everyone except Holden. I have no issue with the guy. I applaud his decision to stay and fight. But I also think Holden is a good example of why we should have the transfer portal. This RPO scheme is not his natural skill set. If he overcomes that disadvantage, he could be a very good QB. But it’s an uphill battle because our scheme relies on the things he’s struggling to do well. I think he should transfer somewhere that runs a pro scheme. 

I can agree with you here. I didn’t see the A day game, but have read about it from those who did see it. I’m not saying PT is a world beater, but let’s also be honest, the play calling and WR play was very sub par last year. I believe in giving PT a legit chance this year with an O he is more comfy with, which seems to be the case so far. Until our O looks a lot better, we aren’t going to attract any high profile QB recruits. Recruiting will only carry us so far, as there has to be development and coaching available, so that’s why I want to see PT this year. 

[HAPvsOA 287]

The plan appears to be fake it till you make it. Maybe Salter will reenter the portal because as much as I like Hank and White, they don't seem far enough along on the RPO game to run the offense like it needs to be run if Thorne is injured. And not sure that Salter isn't better than Thorne anyway. 

[fishepa 1,904]

Thorne isn't going to be any better than last year IMO.  It will be up to our WR's to make plays putting us in a position to hopefully win more games.  I think we could peak at 8 wins, but likely 6 or 7.  Then I hope we can hang onto the WR's before they transfer out.

[woodford 3,656]

On 4/8/2024 at 3:15 PM, ScotsAU said:

 

- Thorne did what the coaches have been wanting him to do since he arrived on campus. He operated the RPO system, made the right reads, and generally protected the football well. The few balls he did throw up for grabs went to Coleman, who showed out. It could be argued that Thorne just trusted Coleman enough to come down with those 50-50 balls. One time he did and scored. Another time, he drew a PI. 

Thorne making the right decisions here will be the only way Auburn gets to 8 wins next year imo. They could not sustain drives last year and I have no reason to believe it will improve that much in 2024. If he can get first downs with his legs and keep defense off balance to get a receiver open for an explosive play then they will have better opportunities to score. Remember that long run against Georgia? That needs to happen more often.

[CR 2,442]

I think we’re closer to the bottom of the conference than the top in QB play. Hoped for a transfer this spring to come in and start, didnt happen. Now hoping that Brown can give us average or better QB play if called upon, which probably wont be too far into the season. Thorne was just bad last year and getting better players to throw to wont make a bad QB good.

[FreezeWarning 11]

I think it’s pretty clear Thorne will be the starter. I just hope we have him on a tight leash since I don’t have high hopes when it comes to him improving enough. 
 

If Thorne is meh the first few games then I hope we’re quick to give Hank or White a shot to see what they can do.