These are the types of decisions that define a coach’s tenure. And the one Hugh Freeze told reporters about on Saturday is exactly the type of hill he’ll have to lie down on.

Auburn’s head coach said he remains confident in Payton Thorne going into next season. All indications are he’ll go into next year as the relatively unquestioned starting quarterback. He isn’t looking for a starter to come out of the transfer portal.

“I haven’t found a guy yet, and No. 1, if you go take one you’re probably going to lose Payton, Holden (Geriner),” Freeze said Saturday. “You better be right! I believe in Payton. I believe in Holden. I believe in Hank (Brown). I believe in the kid we’ve got coming (2024 QB commit Walker White). If I’m wrong, I’m wrong, but that’s my belief.”

It’s a telling and bold statement from Freeze. He’s going to build with what he has. Another transfer quarterback isn’t going to solve Auburn’s problems.

As Freeze said, he better be right.

On the surface, sticking with Thorne seems like the easy choice. It doesn’t mean teaching a new offense to another new quarterback. Freeze already had to teach it to Thorne when he arrived from Michigan State over the summer, leaving just the month of August to practice with the Tigers before the season.

Thorne brings back over 2,000 yards from scrimmage between his arms and his legs in 2023 and, as Freeze said, Thorne got progressively better each week as the season went on.

Freeze’s gamble, though, lies more in what he passed up to decide on Thorne.

He did not settle back on Thorne as a last resort. He instead looked at a transfer portal full of big-name quarterbacks like Notre Dame-bound Riley Leonard, N.C. State-bound Grayson McCall and the still undecided Washington State transfer Cameron Ward as if all were secondary options to the returning quarterback he already had.

“Truthfully, we evaluate and watch every single quarterback/lineman/receiver that goes in the portal and we try to evaluate (if this) is the best thing for our football team,” Freeze said Saturday. “Truthfully, I don’t know if you know this, but we have one of the top returning quarterbacks in Power Five with wins in Payton Thorne. I believe that if we get the right pieces around him and Holden and Hank, I think our quarterback room is going to be fine next year. That is my belief. It’s what drives me to get the right pieces around them.”

What Freeze is doing is sticking to his long-laid-out plans. Since Freeze got to Auburn in November 2022, he has based his plan to build Auburn as a multi-year project. He was going to bring in his recruits from high school and supplement it with the transfer portal as needed. He doesn’t want to bring in a class of nearly two dozen transfers like he had to last offseason as he put his first Auburn team together.

More than 1,000 players have entered the transfer portal since it opened on Dec. 4. Freeze has only landed a commitment from one of them. The transfer portal may be the new trendy way to build a roster, but Freeze is sticking to his guns.

Freeze said it bluntly: he wants to build his program through high school players.

“That’s been one of my issues too when I say I don’t think I’ve been very good at some of this portal deal because I’m really committed to trying to sign the best high school class we can,” Freeze said.

That shows in his lack of pursuit of a quarterback in the portal. If he was to bring in a quarterback, it had to be the perfect fit because Freeze knew it would further alter the chemistry of the quarterback room he already had beyond the expected departure of Robby Ashford.

It shows in Freeze’s approach of building an offense around his quarterback instead. The message from his Saturday press conference made it clear that Freeze believes the reason why Auburn’s passing offense finished among the 10 worst in FBS was due more to the poor wide receiver and offensive line play than it was Thorne and the quarterbacks.

Freeze noted Throne’s Pro Football Focus analytical stats as the year went on. Over Auburn’s final five games, Thorne’s grades were consistently among the top tier of college quarterbacks. His overall grade for the year had him just outside the top 25% of quarterbacks despite a poor start to the season.

“If you look when (Thorne) had two NFL receivers, the two kids from Michigan State, the guy threw for 6,700 yards and I think he can do just fine,” Freeze said.

Freeze put every ounce of his quarterback commitment behind what he has on the roster now and one incoming piece of 4-star high school recruit Walker White. Freeze is not changing his stance: it’s Thorne now and either Geriner or White later.

He’s put every ounce of his commitment behind a star-studded wide receiver class led by 5-star recruits Cam Coleman and Perry Thompson. That is the NFL talent Freeze believes can elevate Thorne.

This is his gamble. The decisions he is making now will be reflective of his overall success at Auburn — and in turn if he can build a tenure as Auburn’s coach for the long term. Freeze has been given time to build a roster that had been drained from poor 2021 and 2022 recruiting classes.

And with such a strong vote of confidence in his build-up from high school classes, he’s created his own timeline for evaluating his coaching success.

His first full high school recruiting class will begin signing with Auburn during Wednesday’s early signing day and begin arriving on campus within the next month.

“I guess I’ve already put my chips in saying I’m pretty all-in on trying to sign this high school class and would like to see it through and then go from there,” Freeze said. “Again, not one to sit here and say my plan is the perfect one but that’s the plan.”

This is the group Freeze is betting on. He’s made that much clear.

He’ll be getting a full year to work with Thorne as Auburn begins bowl practices Saturday and eventually spring practices. He’ll begin getting the young talent on campus. So much of recruiting is talk and ratings and highlight tapes. The onus is now on Freeze to put it together.

The onus is on him to be right.

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