The media has been buzzing over the last week since Auburn football head coach Hugh Freeze mentioned in a teleconference last Wednesday that he was “debating” stepping away from Payton Thorne as the Tigers' QB1.
During his November 11 press conference, Coach Freeze shed some more light on the issue.
Hugh Freeze on Payton Thorne Injury, who will start against ULM for Auburn football
“Payton (Thorne) has played solid. Now he was not able to practice last week with his shoulder, and we’ll see how this week goes with that and with others getting the reps and kind of go from there. When I say that, it’s certainly not an indication that I don’t think he has played pretty solid here as of late. But you start kind of thinking big-picture, and that’s not always the easiest thing to do because you love your players and you want what’s best for all of them, what gives us the best chance to win the remaining three games. And obviously we’ll start seeing how the health is, first and foremost.” Freeze stated.
Hugh Freeze on Practice Reps from Walker White, Hank Brown, Holden Geriner
“The second open week we actually got the other guys quite a bit of reps in the three practices we had. Then we had a little scrimmage to close it out. Offense versus defense, other guys that don’t typically get reps, and offense won that scrimmage on a pass play from Walker (White) to one of the young receivers. It was good to see them get reps. We got Holden (Geriner) and Hank (Brown) quite a few also.”
Hugh Freeze has opened the QB competition back up
Coach Freeze seems to have moved from debating the change to actually inciting a position battle, in which each QB will have to prove their merit in order to earn any semblance of playing time.
Also worth noting is Hank Brown getting practice snaps, as he’s been redshirted this year; meaning Coach Freeze is certainly looking to the future in his QB play.