Not even a week ago, Hugh Freeze thought he had his mind made up.

But things change quickly in a competition that hadn’t been shut.

“Yesterday, I had my mind made up,” Auburn’s head coach said after Saturday’s scrimmage. “And after today I need to watch the film before I say.”

In that moment, Freeze didn’t make it abundantly clear exactly what his mind had been made up on, and how it changed. To that point, Auburn still had a rotation of three quarterbacks in the periods of practice open to media.

Turns out, Freeze had actually pretty much made his decision for the starting job before last Saturday’s practice at Jordan-Hare Stadium

“I felt like it was Payton going into the scrimmage and then in the scrimmage,” Freeze said. “I thought he pressed too much and I didn’t like that.”

Freeze had originally stated he wanted to narrow to two quarterbacks by the fifth practice, before later stating at the opening of fall camp that it might take 10 days. The scrimmage was before the 10-day mark from that August 3 preseason camp kick-off press conference.

Freeze never made any comments about specifically which names he saw where in the quarterback competition before naming Thorne the starter exactly two weeks after fall camp began. Before Thursday, Auburn had only opened about 30 minutes of select practices up for media members to watch. Then Freeze let media members stay for the final 90 minutes of practice Thursday.

It’s hard to say exactly what happened during the quarterback competition during the closed periods of practice. Thursday marked the first time reporters saw any of the quarterbacks throw against a live defense.

If Freeze had wound up deciding on Thorne before the scrimmage, it happened behind the scenes. He didn’t have any availability to be asked about his process between his fall camp opener and the scrimmage. Neither players nor assistant coaches provided any clarity on how Auburn’s three top options — Throne, Robby Ashford and Holden Geriner — stacked up.

Certainly, Freeze’s comments now show he had Thorne as the leader heading into the scrimmage.

But that scrimmage changed things. At least briefly.

Reports out of the scrimmage centered around Ashford playing well, highlighted by a long touchdown pass to Cincinnati transfer Nick Mardner. Thorne did not have a touchdown pass, though Freeze said he had two completions that were ruled out of bounds.

Freeze was happy with Ashford after the scrimmage, happy enough to keep open a quarterback battle that entering the day may have been over in his own head.

The Auburn head coach’s comments after naming Thorne the starter also suggest the Michigan State transfer was aware of Freeze’s thinking entering the scrimmage.

“I want to see now what he does now (knowing) ‘I’m the guy and I can go back to relaxing and playing within the system,’” Freeze said.

Freeze has tried to put as many areas of his team into situations to test their mindsets. If he slated Thorne as the starter going into the game and told him as much to test how he handled it, Freeze said Thorne didn’t handle it well.

That led to this week. A week of final decisions two just over two weeks from the season opener against UMass.

Freeze studied film after the scrimmage. On Tuesday, Auburn ran a blitz pick-up drill where both Thorne and Ashford worked with the rest of the starters while Geriner worked on a different part of the field with the backups. Drills like that one may have been a final push from Ashford to take back the starting job he had for Auburn at the end of 2022.

But Thorne was always the leader for Freeze. He was the first quarterback to take snaps with the top offensive line at the first practice. It was going to take big changes to knock Thorne off the top. And whether those changes were Thorne consistently struggling or another quarterback proving to be better, that never happened.

So Freeze consulted a decision-maker he’s used in the past: his gut.

“I mean, my gut is usually right, and usually when I follow my gut — and I’m not saying my gut is right that Payton is the guy for all 12 games, but my gut is saying it’s the time to do this,” Freeze said. “To get us best prepared for the opening of the season.”

Over the days since Ashford’s emergence in the scrimmage, Freeze’s decision to go back to naming Thorne the starter came down to his leadership and reliability.

Throughout fall camp, Freeze has been looking for separation. Leadership that Throne provided — for a player that arrive in Auburn this summer — turned out to be the gap Auburn’s head coach was looking for.

Freeze said Thorne showed a better understanding of the offense along with proving to be “more efficient in the decision making to this point.”

Thorne may not have the ceiling of a gifted athlete like Ashford, but Freeze appeared impressed by the much more experienced Thorne coming to the team after spring practices, learning an offense his teammates had a head start on and making better decisions.

In the lead-up to practices, multiple coaches including Freeze and offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery said Thorne would text and call them constantly throughout the summer as he studied film and the playbook. His teammates like offensive lineman Gunner Britton said Thorne began to fit into the rest of the bunch with days like when the two golfed together.

It all paid off.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]