Auburn wide receiver Sam Jackson V has seen Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne when he is most comfortable — and last year wasn’t it.

“Last year you saw Payton, and that wasn’t Payton,” Jackson told reporters Tuesday.

Jackson, who transferred in from Cal this offseason, watched as Thorne became the career leader in completions, passing yards and touchdowns at Naperville Central High School. As Thorne’s high school teammate, Jackson was on the receiving end of many of those passes.

It hasn’t been since the 2021 season, when Thorne was still at Michigan State, that Jackson has seen Thorne at his best. That year, Thorne eclipsed 3,200 passing yards and recorded 27 touchdowns on 60% passing.

“You go back to 2021 and that’s how Payton is playing now,” Jackson said.

Representing Auburn at SEC Media Days, Thorne was asked by reporters if he anticipated having a better year every which way possible.

“No question,” Thorne replied to one reporter before explaining that it was difficult to get thrown into the fire of fall practice without having a spring camp under his belt.

Auburn tight end Rivaldo Fairweather, who also transferred ahead of last season, can attest to Thorne looking much more comfortable heading into Year 2 on The Plains.

“Payton, he’s really comfortable back there,” Fairweather said on Tuesday. “Payton knows everything that’s going on. When he knows what’s going on, he’s more comfortable, he knows the right checks (and) he knows the right reads to make.”

Thorne making the correct reads seems to be a common theme through the first few days of fall camp at Auburn.

Even Auburn running back Damari Alston made mention of it on Tuesday.

“The way he goes through his progressions and reads, it’s crazy,” Alston said.

The son of a football coach, Thorne has always been regarded as someone with a high football IQ.

Jackson went as far as to compare Thorne to two-time Super Bowl Champion Peyton Manning — and not just because the pair share a first name, but because of the “cerebral part of the game.”

“He has that down pat,” Jackson said.

Last year, Thorne couldn’t lean into the “cerebral part of the game” because he lacked talent around him, Jackson says.

“I think the main thing was the receiver room — we didn’t have a lot of juice in the room. Now, we’ve got those guys and you see Payton kind of flourishing. You need guys around you,” Jackson said.

“If you don’t have receivers that know ‘I need to get open on this play because it’s an RPO’ or ‘I need to get my eyes back,’ it makes the quarterback second guess. Now that you have guys like (KeAndre Lambert-Smith) and (Robert Lewis), who know what it is and know that part of the game, it’s easier for Payton. Payton knows where he’s going with the ball every single time.”

During Tuesday’s practice, Alston was on the receiving end of a pass from Thorne and it left an impression on the junior running back.

“He threw a ball today that made me go, ‘Oh, my God. Payton is so good,’” Alston said. “I just can’t wait for y’all to see that side of him.”

With Thorne looking more and more like a quarterback who set program records in high school and passed for more than 3,200 yards in 2021, Jackson says it’s about to be a totally “different ballgame.”

“He’s flourishing. If you guys are out there today, you can see that Payton just… he’s quick, he’s decisive with everything he does,” Jackson said. “And I feel like people didn’t really get to see a lot of that last year just because of the struggles that they had on offense. But this year is going to be a different ballgame for sure.”