Hugh Freeze changes quarterback as Hank Brown will replace Payton Thorne as Auburn’s starter
Auburn’s loss in Week 2 led to a quarterback change.
According to multiple reports, including Rivals’ Auburn Sports, the Tigers will use redshirt 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 quarterback move came days after Auburn coach Hugh Freeze made it clear on his coaches’ show Monday night that he did not believe the coaching staff was primarily to blame for his team’s loss. Freeze said he was “a little baffled” at times by Auburn’s offense.
“I’ll be the first person to stand in front of our team and say, ‘Guys, we called five plays so schematically that you guys didn’t have a chance,'” Freeze said. “And that’s our mistake and it’s hard for me to say that, but I always do. But honestly, there was one play in that game that I think was a bad decision by our team and the rest of us when we just — now, we messed up a defense, you can’t do that, and that cost us the win. We got a wheel route down the sideline, (Cal’s defense) completely dropped him and we messed up a defense with our tailback and missed that one. And then the others, Payton, he just didn’t — fourth-and-two, midfield, wasn’t a good decision. We got two slants that were all by themselves, they both won on fourth-and-two, let’s push it to them, let’s move the chains and he got greedy and tried to throw a deep ball. Situational awareness, things like that.”
Thorne played in all 13 games for the Tigers last season and completed 162 of 265 passes for 1,755 yards, 16 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
According to Rivals, Brown was a three-star recruit in the class of 2023. He originally committed to Liberty when Freeze coached the Flames, but followed the former Ole Miss coach to Auburn. Brown appeared in Auburn’s Week 1 win, throwing two touchdown passes on three successful passes in five attempts. Brown also appeared in one game as a freshman in 2023, throwing nine passes. After the season, he became the No. 2 quarterback after Robby Ashford transferred to South Carolina.
We would expect Auburn’s offense to be more run-based, as it was with Brown at quarterback in 2023. The Tigers still ran more than 50% of the time in 2024, but threw a larger percentage of passes in the first two games of the season.
