Following a 2023 season where Payton Thorne was surrounded by the questions of whether he’d be the starting quarterback at Auburn, whether he should be the starting quarterback and how much of a rotation he’d have with backup Robby Ashford, Thorne finally has something he’d never truly been granted at Auburn: stability.

Ashford has departed to the transfer portal and Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze told reporters Saturday he plans to ride with Thorne going into the 2024 season. Freeze’s gamble on Thorne gives the former Michigan State transfer another thing he hasn’t had at Auburn: a full offseason to actually learn the playbook.

Thorne transferred to Auburn in May. It was weeks after Auburn had already wrapped up its spring practices. He had summer workouts with the team, but didn’t get to go through a practice until August.

That isn’t enough time to get comfortable with an offense. And it showed as Thorne struggled during the first seven games of Auburn’s season — including a four-game losing streak to open SEC play.

“Coming in the middle of the year in the summer, not having spring ball, not having a full fall camp either because you’re splitting reps — and through the first few games of the season, as well,” Thorne said Monday. “I think toward the second half of the year, you got a glimpse of what we could be.”

With the expectation Thorne comfortably rides into next season as Auburn’s starting quarterback, Thorne can fully devote his attention to the playbook and an infusion of talent around him.

Thorne’s turning point toward earning Freeze’s confidence heading into 2024 came after its Week 8 loss to Ole Miss.

In Auburn’s final five games, Thorne passed for 826 yards and 10 touchdown passes. In the seven games prior, he had only 845 passing yards and five touchdown passes. His completion percentage improved and Thorne had far more passing attempts over the final five games, too.

What led to that improvement however was not necessarily Thorne gaining a better grasp of the offense, but maybe more to do with how Freeze simplified it.

“We were able to get on the same page with what we’re going to be running instead of having a wide-open playbook going into the game,” Thorne said. “Coach Freeze said ‘We’re going to shrink things down.’ We did that, and that helped get guys to understand what we’re going to be running in the game.”

By the time Auburn lost to Ole Miss, Thorne still hadn’t been practicing with Auburn for three full months. Between a largely inexperienced group of wide receivers and a quarterback himself who all were learning a new offense, there was a clear lack of chemistry and knowledge of the scheme.

Freeze frequently commented on his wide receivers lining up in the wrong places or running the wrong routes during the first seven games of the 2023 season. He took much more authority with the offense after the loss to Ole Miss, and Thorne’s comments are among the most revealing of what changed after that Oct. 21 game.

Simplicity cannot and will not be an excuse for Thorne going into 2024. He knows that. So he’s able to both understand the entirety of the schematics for himself as well as how to be an on-field coach to what will again be an inexperienced wide receiver group next fall.

“It’s just what I said earlier: getting into the playbook and we’ll see what that is in January,” Thorne said. “Really just diving into it and knowing every single detail. Knowing the entire thing so I can go teach these guys. That’s how I was in the past at my last place. I was able to really communicate with those guys a lot.”

Those guys he’ll have to communicate with include the best wide receiver class in Auburn history headlined by five-star recruits Cam Coleman and Perry Thompson — should all four currently committed receivers indeed sign with Auburn.

Thorne met Coleman, Thompson and high-priority Auburn target five-star receiver Ryan Williams, who is currently committed to Alabama, over the weekend during Auburn’s first two bowl practices. He said he enjoyed talking with them, and expects the currently committed wide receivers to be on campus for spring practices.

None of that was a luxury he had last season.

Before Thorne has a chance to take advantage of the talent Freeze has surrounded him with — the talent he is gambling will return Thorne to his 2021 form, the best season of his career with three NFL receivers and an NFL running back — Thorne said he plans to work on his footwork. That comes as part of his work on the playbook, which combined will help him gain a sense of where he, and specifically his feet, need to be.

Freeze believes a second year in the offense for Thorne makes more sense than bringing in another new passer to go through the same teaching process he’s already done with his former Michigan State transfer. Plus, as Freeze noted, most transfer quarterbacks that have been successful have done so in their second year — former Auburn quarterback Bo Nix at Oregon, former Indiana quarterback Michael Penix at Washington and former Virginia Tech quarterback Hendon Hooker at Tennessee all had their career-defining years at the second season in a new school.

That doesn’t mean Thorne needs to develop into a Heisman trophy contender for Auburn to be successful.

Instead, Thorne’s ability to learn the whole playbook and ability to make good on Freeze’s belief the offense can be better if he builds it around Thorne will be the keys to Freeze’s bet on the 2024 season.

“You better be right,” Freeze said Saturday. “I believe in Payton. I believe in Holden. I believe in Hank. I believe in (2024 QB commit Walker White. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong, but that’s my belief. Looking forward to getting better pieces in our offense and him improving.”

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