The quarterback talk continued Friday morning as Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze jumped on the air with former Auburn offensive lineman Cole Cubelic and former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy on Birmingham’s WJOX 94.5 FM.

Freeze first fielded a question from Cubelic, who asked what ultimately led to Thorne being named Auburn’s QB1.

“We track everything,” Freeze said. “Every decision, every protection, the accuracy of the throw, was it thrown to the right read… we track all of that. And (Thorne) does have a slight edge there. But really it just came down to me and I think his understanding of what we’re trying to do offensively, he gets it.”

And while surely Freeze’s offensive schemes have changed some since his time at Ole Miss, where he was the Rebels’ head coach from 2012-16, there’s bound to be some surviving principles.

So it wasn’t a surprise when McElroy asked Freeze to compare his first starter at Auburn to the likes of Bo Wallace and Chad Kelly — two Ole Miss quarterbacks who helped define Freeze’s tenure in Oxford.

“I really like his game. I think he throws a nice ball, a catchable ball and is a cerebral player. Understands how he fits and understands, maybe, his own physical limitations and is very self aware,” McElroy said. “I was looking back kinda of your days back at Ole Miss the last time you were in the league. You know, comparable in skillset, in competitiveness to a Bo Wallace or to a Chad Kelly. Seems like he kinda fits that mold?”

Wallace was the quarterback at Ole Miss from 2012-14 and tallied more than 9,500 passing yards with 62 touchdowns and 41 interceptions in three seasons. He added just less than 950 rushing yards and 19 rushing touchdowns in the same span.

In 2015 and 2016, Kelly was the guy at Ole Miss, tallying 6,800 passing yards, 50 passing touchdowns and 21 interceptions. On the ground, Kelly was good for 841 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns.

And in Thorne, Freeze sees a little of both.

“I think that’s a really good comparison,” Freeze told McElroy. “He’s gonna run better than you give him credit for. I think people will be shocked that he does some good things with his legs when he needs to. He’s not Robby (Ashford), but he is very similar to Chad (Kelly) in the fact that I think he runs a little better than Bo (Wallace) and about as good as Chad (Kelly).”

But as most know, not having an athletic quarterback wasn’t Auburn’s problem.

Sophomore Robby Ashford, who started nine of Auburn’s 12 games in 2022, is still on the Tigers’ roster. And Freeze calls him the most “freakish athlete” he’s coached at the quarterback position.

Instead, Auburn needed to find someone to elevate the passing game. And Freeze is hoping he’s found that in Thorne.

“He doesn’t have the arm strength that Chad (Kelly) had, but it’s not bad. It’s not far off,” Freeze said. “But he has the football IQ that Chad (Kelly) had. He has a really sharp football IQ.”