AUBURN – The 2024-2025 college football season is getting closer by the day.
Fall camp for programs across the country is starting to rap up as it is time to step back into the classroom.
Auburn's presumptive starting quarterback Payton Thorne talked about what fall camp has been like and looked ahead to the season.
Thorne explained what parts of fall camp have been going better for him this season than last season.
"Just about everything honestly," Thorne said. "We've got some familiar faces around, some coaches some players but for the most part, there is a lot of new guys. That's a good thing and the guys that Coach (Hugh) Freeze has brought in are his caliber guys. They're high-character guys, they're like-minded guys, so you have more of the same people."
Thorne talked about the scrimmage the team had on Saturday and what he took away from it.
"It's tough going out there and scrimmaging like that," Thorne said. "You want to compare it to a game but at the same time, it's not. We're thudding most of that day on scrimmage so you never really know how many yards you're gaining."
"Offensively, we were frustrated walking off the field with how our game went. It was one of our not-as-good days of camp. Then you go back and watch film, it's never as good or as bad as what you think."
Freshman wide receiver Malcolm Simmons has been getting a lot of attention during fall camp. Thorne talked about what he has seen from Simmons so far.
"First things first is speed," Thorne said. "He can fly. His jumping ability. I think his Instagram name is freak something and that lives up to the name he is a freak. You look out there and we've got a lot of guys like that."
"As a whole, our receiving room is a lot different than it was last year."
Thorne talked about Auburn's new quarterbacks coach, Kent Austin, and what it has been like working with him so far.
"We were going over some stuff that's just really refreshing to be going over and just next-level stuff," Thorne said. "We can sit down and break down defenses... that's huge for me honestly now that I'm a veteran guy and I've been around for quite a while now in the college game."
Auburn opens the season at home against the Alabama A&M Bulldogs on August 31 at 6:30 p.m. CT. ESPN+/SEC Network+ will carry the broadcast.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email daniel.locke@1819news.com.
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