Heading into the 2025 Auburn football season, head coach Hugh Freeze and the Tigers are hoping to find success with a quarterback out of the transfer portal. Unfortunately, relying on a transfer QB didn't provide the best results in Freeze's first two seasons.
Despite improving the roster and the coaching staff, things just never seemed to click for the Tigers on offense over the past two years, and as the quarterback, Payton Thorne was handed a lot of the blame. He had a successful stint with Michigan State, but for some reason struggled with good decision-making as a Tiger.
Thorne represented Auburn— both the football program and the school— well during his time on the Plains, and threw for 4,468 yards and 37 touchdowns over his two seasons in orange and blue. However, the quarterback's mistakes and inconsistencies made it so he was never what one would call a 'fan favorite.'
AL.com's Peter Rauterkus summed up Payton Thorne's time on the Plains rather grimly:
"Payton Thorne arrived at Auburn from Michigan State ahead of Freeze’s first season in 2023 and eventually beat out returning signal caller Robby Ashford for the starting job. Thorne went on to account for 85% of Auburn’s passing yards for the next two seasons, but his tenure as Auburn’s starting quarterback is viewed as mediocre by some and disastrous by others."
Still, Thorne's football career is not over yet. Following the recent 2025 NFL Draft, Thorne was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Cincinnati Bengals. He will join a quarterback position group led by Joe Burrow, who is backed up primarily by Jake Browning. According to Fox Sports, Thorne could potentially compete with third-string QB Logan Woodside for a roster or practice squad spot.