The 2023 Auburn football season can be one that sees the Tigers contend for the 2023 SEC West title according to Auburn Daily’s Matthew Jacobs — though, it should be noted, there is a notable caveat.
Jacobs believes that with the right quarterback under center, AU is at a 10-win ceiling, but the wrong quarterback (aka Robby Ashford or Holden Geriner) would struggle to make the Tigers bowl eligible.
“With a good quarterback I put Auburn at 10-2,” Jacobs prefaced before saying, “If the quarterback role falls to someone currently on the team, I think 6-7 wins will be tough to aspire to.”
Payton Thorne looking like the next Auburn football transfer portal quarterback
Since the 2021 season, which was the first of the NIL and post-COVID era, the transfer portal has been a massive source of an immediate talent influx for programs across the country. For Auburn football, the quarterback position has seen an influx of talent every season, with T.J. Finley coming in 2021 and Ashford and Zach Calzada making their way to the Plains in January 2022. By that same token, it’s been an out for many, with Bo Nix, Dematrius Davis, Trey Lindsay, Calzada, and Finley all utilizing the transfer portal to abandoned East Central Alabama.
In the 2023 transfer cycle, there’s been a subtraction, and more than likely, there will be an addition. According to the ESPN College Football transfer portal Twitter account, Michigan State quarterback Payton Thorne will be that addition.
Sources tell me that Michigan State transfer QB, Payton Thorne, is heading to Auburn. Announcement coming soon @payton15thorne 🚨 pic.twitter.com/cuZ9CYM5pN
— College Transfer Portal (@CollegeFBPortal) May 3, 2023
With Nebraska transfer Casey Thompson as his main competition, Thorne was seemingly billed the best fit by first-year head coach Hugh Freeze — who was unwilling to hand the starting job to anyone and may still be.
Thorne may need to beat out Ashford and Geriner, but if he does, perhaps the Tigers would move closer to Jacobs’ projection.