Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze was minutes removed from he and the Tigers’ 31-13 loss to Maryland in the Music City Bowl when he said Auburn’s quarterback battle would be “wide open” come the spring.

And in his first media appearance of spring camp Thursday, Freeze reiterated that in saying “every spot is wide open.”

In the case of the quarterback race, Freeze said he’s got a four-man battle consisting of incumbent starter Payton Thorne, sophomore Holden Geriner, redshirt freshman Hank Brown and true freshman Walker White.

“The hardest thing is when you’ve got four guys you want to get looks at is getting them all quality reps. We would chart every single rep. In individual, every single rep, on footwork — I’ve got a team of three guys that are charged with that, the decision-making, execution and getting them quality reps.”

During the team’s first practice of spring camp Tuesday, the Tigers’ quartet of quarterbacks were faced with some unfavorable conditions as winds whipped across the field on a cloudy Auburn afternoon.

“That was a very challenging day for quarterbacks, for sure,” said Freeze.

Given the circumstances, Freeze left Tuesday’s practice impressed with Brown, who “threw it extremely well in those conditions.”

Meanwhile, in his first real look at White, Freeze walked away happy with what he saw.

“Obviously, you’re gonna get really good looks at Payton and Holden and Hank, and then you want to get Walker some, because I think he’s so talented,” Freeze said. “I mean, his arm strength is phenomenal. He made throws the other day that take great arm strength to make.”

That said, Freeze says White is “swimming” while everything continues to come at him quick.

“We’ve got to find a way to slow that down and give him quality reps, too. It’s a challenge to do that,” Freeze said.

But at the end of the day, signs continue to point at Auburn’s incumbent starter in Thorne, the fifth-year senior who transferred in from Michigan State a year ago.

“Let me clear: I think Payton has done an incredible job since January of taking a leadership role and setting the standard. Do I think it’s his to lose? Yes. But he’s gotta go earn it every day,” Freeze said of Thorne, who logged 1,755 passing yards, 16 passing touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 2023. “We’re not in a position where we can just say that it’s given to somebody.”

Last fall, Auburn’s passing offense finished near the bottom of the barrel as it finished the year ranked 121st in passing offense — leaving just nine teams in the FBS with a worse showing.

Now, with a new offensive coordinator in Derrick Nix, Freeze hopes Auburn’s offense can return to the likes of what he and Nix used to run at Ole Miss.

“I want to get back to the only thing I’ve known that has given us success everywhere we’ve been, the RPO-driven run game and the play-action passes off of it,” Freeze said. “In order to do that you’ve got to have a receiver or three that can win in some one-on-ones and quarterbacks that can execute it. I do think our quarterbacks can do that.”

Which quarterback will be the one to do it come the fall season?

That seems to be a question that only time will solve, especially since there’s a new offensive install happening with Nix now on The Plains.

“We’re changing our whole verbiage, our whole system, to what I’m comfortable with,” Freeze said. “I need to see who has the best grasp on that.”

In the meantime, Freeze will be grading Auburn’s quarterbacks out on three main factors: who can take care of the ball best, who has the best decision-making and accuracy — in that order.

“We’re gonna find out who grades out the best at leading our football team and executing the plan that we’re putting in place,” Freeze said.