Mike Farrell shares debatable take on Payton Thorne
On paper, the addition of Payton Thorne from the transfer portal is a great move for Auburn as he adds three seasons of starting experience to Auburn’s rap sheet.
In three seasons at Michigan State, he threw for 6,493 yards and 49 touchdowns. When comparing Thorne’s production to that of Robby Ashford and Holden Geriner, Thorne is by far the veteran of the room.
Does he give Auburn the best chance to turn the program this season? One college football writer is not sold on the idea.
In a recent installment of his Fact or Fiction series, college football analyst Mike Farrell says that Thorne will struggle on the Plains.
He’s a nice stop-gap pickup for Hugh Freeze and all, but he’s thrown double-digit interceptions each of the last two years and struggled to thrive in the Big Ten, which isn’t as loaded as the SEC when it comes to pass rushers and corners. Thorne will struggle, and so will Auburn. And that’s to be expended as Freeze tries to turn things around from the Bryan Harsin debacle.
Outside of this take, Farrell has been otherwise positive when discussing the trajectory of Auburn following the hire of Hugh Freeze. Farell suggested that Freeze would be the best fit for the job in November, and has called Auburn’s transfer haul “the best in the SEC.”
Time will tell, but maybe Thorne can get off to a great start in 2023 and prove that he does belong in the SEC by season’s end.
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