Auburn’s loss in Week 2 prompted a QB change.
According to several reports including Auburn Sports Rivals, The Tigers are scheduled to start freshman Hank Brown in Saturday’s game against New Mexico. Payton Thorne has been the team’s quarterback since the start of the 2023 season and started the first two games of 2024. Thorne, a transfer from Michigan State, threw four interceptions in the Tigers’ 21-14 loss to Cal.
The QB change comes days after Auburn coach Hugh Freeze made it clear On his coaches’ show on Monday night Freeze said he felt the coaching staff was largely not responsible for his team’s loss. Freeze said he was “a little baffled” at times by Auburn’s offense.
“I’m the first one to stand in front of our team and say, ‘Guys, we’ve called five plays that schematically didn’t give you a fighting chance,’” Freeze said. “And that’s on us and it’s hard for me to say it, but I always do. But honestly, there was one play in this game that I think was a bad decision by our staff and the rest of them, if we just — now, we missed a protection, you can’t do that, and it cost us. We got a wheel route running down the sideline, (Cal’s defense) completely knocked it down and we missed a protection with our running back and we missed that one. And then the other ones, though, Payton just didn’t — fourth-and-2, halffield, not a good decision. We got two slants that went solo, both of them gained on fourth-and-2, we hit it to him, move the chains and he got greedy and tried to throw a deep ball. Situational awareness, stuff like that.”
Thorne played in all 13 games for the Tigers last season and completed 162 of 265 passes for 1,755 yards and 16 TDs to go along with 10 interceptions.
According to Rivals, Brown was a three-star recruit in the class of 2023. He originally committed to Liberty when Freeze was coaching the Flames, but followed the former Ole Miss coach to Auburn. Brown appeared in Auburn’s Week 1 win and threw two touchdown passes on three completions in five attempts. Brown also appeared in one game as a freshman in 2023 and threw nine passes. He became the No. 2 quarterback following the season after Robby Ashford transferred to South Carolina.
We expect Auburn’s offense to be more run-based, like it will be in 2023 with Brown at quarterback. The Tigers have run more than 50% of the time in 2024, but have thrown a higher percentage of passes in the first two games of the season.
