Payton Thorne will always be tied to the first two years of Hugh Freeze's tenure as the Auburn Tigers football coach, given the latter's stubbornness in handling the former.
As the SEC prepares for the 2025 season, several anonymous coaches from the "It Just Means More" conference ribbed Thorne while proclaiming incoming transfer quarterback Jackson Arnold, Thorne's replacement under center, as someone who can actually run the offense.
Eric Singleton Jr. and the rest of the receiving corps were credited for giving Arnold a set of weapons that could help him put up points.
“Watch out here — they finally have a quarterback who can run [Hugh] Freeze’s system, and they’ve done some really impressive work in the portal,” said one coach to Athlon Sports. “They’re not an elite team by any stretch, but this is the most complete roster Freeze has put together since he got there.”
“They finally have a quarterback, honestly. [Jackson] Arnold is not a world-beater, you can rattle him, but he’s a Day 1 upgrade, and the receiving room is really deep,” a different coach added. “The Georgia Tech kid [Eric Singleton Jr.] is a legit baller and a big get.”
One coach opined that DJ Durkin was the one who kept the team in games last year, with Thorne struggling under a three-headed play-calling hydra of Freeze, offensive coordinator/running backs coach Derrick Nix, and quarterbacks coach Kent Austin.
“This offense is going to be better, and that’s going to help that defense a lot more,” a coach told Athlon. “[DJ] Durkin’s done a really good job with these guys, and it’s what kept them in a lot of their games last year.”
Durkin has his side of the ball covered while Freeze may have the right guy to run an offense that looked obsolete for two straight seasons outside of the occasional Jarquez Hunter explosion.
Perhaps it's only a matter of time before Durkin is rewarded for it and Freeze's offensive play-calling role is outsourced to a replacement.
Thorne's legacy can be salvaged by Arnold struggling under Freeze and Co. the same way he did, but back when the pressure was almost entirely off the head coach.