There’s no question that Hugh Freeze is disappointed in the way things have played out in his second year on the Plains.
Earlier in the season, the Tigers' struggles were largely due to the play of fifth-year senior quarterback Payton Thorne.
After a shaky performance in the Tigers' loss to Cal, where he threw four crucial interceptions leading to the Tigers being last in FBS in turnover margin, Thorne was benched for redshirt freshman Hank Brown to begin SEC play.
Since then, Thorne has regained his position as Auburn’s starting quarterback and has played up to a higher standard. Thorne has since thrown just three interceptions, completing 62.9% of his passes for 1,825 yards, putting him sixth in the league in total passing yards.
However, despite Thorne’s recent performance, the Tigers still struggle to find any wins, and it could lead to Freeze testing out other options under center in the Tigers' final three games.
“Payton's played pretty solid, but at the same time, you start thinking of the big picture; that's a tough quandary for you as a coach. When you start thinking big picture, as opposed to one of your players that really hasn’t done anything wrong. But we certainly aren't winning. So, we're debating all of that this week, and we'll continue into next week debating that,” Freeze said.
Of the three candidates for more playing time at the position in the Tigers' last three games – Brown, Holden Geriner and Walker White – each could play in the Tigers' remaining games and hold on to their redshirt status. Brown is the most likely option to receive an increase in minutes, considering he was Freeze’s go-to after Thorne’s struggles earlier in the season, but Freeze has raved about the true freshman in White and could look to get him some meaningful reps in hopes of building for the future.
Freeze will ponder upon the decision throughout the remainder of the bye week before getting ready to host Louisiana-Monroe next Saturday. Kickoff is set for 11:45 a.m. CT and will be aired on SEC Network.
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