'Big brother, little brother': Matchup with Cal will be reunion for Auburn's Payton Thorne

AUBURN — It won't be the first time Mike Stine experiences it, but perhaps it'll be the most unique.

The former coach at Naperville Central High School in Illinois, where he spent 37 years, Stine has watched some of his former players go up against one another at the next level before. Typically, it's been between college programs close to home; Michigan running back Danny Hughes and Northwestern linebacker Troy Hudetz both played under Stine before the Wolverines hosted the Wildcats in October 2021, as an example.

But when Auburn football visits Cal on Saturday, it'll be different. The venue won't be in the Midwest, rather, it'll be 2,000 miles away in Berkeley, California. And the two former Naperville Central standouts competing — Auburn's Payton Thorne and Cal's Sam Jackson V — are a couple of the best quarterbacks Stine has ever coached.

They also happen to have a great relationship.

A FOOTBALL LIFE: 'Hey dad, he did it right': How Payton Thorne's journey to Auburn began at North Central College

THORNE'S QUALITIES: 'People want to follow him': What Auburn football is getting in transfer QB Payton Thorne

"I can’t wait to see him," Thorne said of Jackson. "That's one of my absolute best friends. We’ll be friends for the rest of our lives. ... Every night after the game (in high school) he came over to my place and stayed the night and we’d hang out. Just really got to know each other well. ...

"He’s an electric player. It’s going to be fun to play against him.”

Thorne and Jackson are two years apart, but they overlapped for one year on varsity during Thorne's senior season in 2018. Jackson, then a sophomore, transferred to Naperville Central after spending his freshman year at nearby Bolingbrook High School.

Jackson joined Stine's roster with the intention of playing quarterback. The only issue, of course, was Thorne, who beat Jackson out for the starting job ahead of the 2018 season.

But Stine believed Jackson was too talented to ride the bench, so he convinced him to play receiver for one season before taking the reins after Thorne graduated. Jackson, though Stine noted "he didn’t want to be a receiver," accepted the role and hauled in 50 passes for 847 yards and 14 touchdowns, helping the Redhawks go 7-4 and reach the second round of the Illinois State 8A playoffs.

"He should’ve been an all-state receiver," Thorne said. "They gypped him."

Though Jackson may not have totally enjoyed the brief position change, Stine said he thinks the year spent under Thorne did him well. Jackson was still the backup quarterback, and when he wasn't getting practice reps at receiver, he was working with Thorne and the QBs: "If something happened to Payton, we felt extremely comfortable with Sam out there," Stine said.

"Their personalities are different," Stine added. "Payton is more business-like, where Sam is a little more bubbly and outgoing. The two of them worked well together. They were like brothers. It was like big brother, little brother."

After Thorne left for Michigan State, Jackson stepped in and earned a four-star ranking from the 247Sports Composite for the work he did as a junior — his senior season was derailed due to the pandemic before he committed to TCU in December 2020. He appeared in six games over two seasons with the Horned Frogs prior to hitting the portal and transferring to Cal in January.

"When you get into teaching, you get into coaching, you hope to somewhere along the line affect student’s and athlete’s lives and be a very small part of something," Stine said. "I’m a very small part of this, but it’s rewarding and it’s exciting."

Jackson, who won the starting job for the Golden Bears ahead of their season opener against North Texas, played 18 snaps against the Mean Green before he went down with what Cal coach Justin Wilcox called an "upper-body" injury. His status for the Auburn game is in question, but Wilcox said the QB practiced Tuesday and is "day to day."

Assuming Jackson is good to go, Stine, who plans on making the trip out to Berkeley, won't be picking sides.

But he’s rooting for a shootout.

"I’m hoping they both throw for 400 yards and five touchdowns and no interceptions," Stine said. "That’s what I hope. ... We’ve had some kids that have competed against each other from our team, so we’ve been through it. (But) this one is going to be unique because some of the other ones it was a starter versus more of a role player.

"This has the opportunity to be two starting quarterbacks and two programs that are both 1-0.”

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football: Payton Thorne eager to battle friend Sam Jackson V