Auburn’s first-year head coach Hugh Freeze has experience in the SEC, which is an invaluable asset and was likely one of the most attractive things about his hiring in December — especially after Bryan Harsin’s SEC-blind tenure went as south as it did.

Freeze’s time as the head coach at Ole Miss probably taught him a lot about the SEC, including how vital a team’s quarterback play is to a program’s performance. Fortunately for Freeze, he found success in quarterbacks Bo Wallace and Shea Patterson, who remains two of the Rebels’ better quarterbacks in the past decade.

Now on The Plains, Freeze knows he needs to elevate the Tigers’ quarterback play if he wants to start righting the ship in Year 1.

Does that mean using some spit shine to further develop sophomore Robby Ashford? Does is mean riding with junior Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne? Or does it mean throwing one of the younger quarterbacks on the roster into the fire?

When Freeze met with the media during SEC Media Days, he sounded far from having those answers.

But with fall camp getting underway and Auburn’s season opener against UMass just a month out, Freeze not only knows he needs to find those answers quickly.

Here’s a case for each of the guys battling for Auburn’s starting quarterback spot as fall camp gets underway Thursday.

Robby Ashford

If Robby Ashford were being coached by the same staff as last fall, it’d be easy to give Ashford a leg up for being more familiar with the playbook. But considering few know what Auburn’s offense will look like under Freeze and offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery, that isn’t the case.

Granted, Ashford was around during the spring, so he’s been around Freeze and Montgomery longer than Thorne, who didn’t transfer until after the spring game in May.

But everyone knows Ashford’s true upside doesn’t come from knowing the playbook better than the guy next to him, but it comes from his ability to make plays with his legs.

Last fall, Ashford tallied 710 rushing yards on 153 carries, good for 4.6 yards per carry. Ashford also added seven touchdowns on the ground. In last season’s Iron Bowl, Ashford rushed for a season-high 121 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Looking at his sheer athleticism, Ashford’s ceiling is high. However, at the quarterback spot, that can only get a guy so far — especially in this league.

Holding Ashford back is his inconsistencies through the passing game.

In 2022, Ashford completed 49% of his passes and had the same number of touchdown passes that he had interceptions at seven apiece. His 1,613 passing yards last season ranked him 12th among the SEC’s 14 quarterbacks, only coming ahead of Vanderbilt’s AJ Swann (1,274) and Texas A&M’s Haynes King (1,220).

However, to be fair to the sophomore signal caller, Auburn’s offensive line was porous last season. The Tigers ranked 78th nationally in sacks allowed in 2022, having given up 30 sacks through 12 games.

Fortunately, regardless of who takes snaps, Auburn’s offensive line should be improved this season after bringing in a handful of experience linemen from the transfer portal.

Payton Thorne

The addition of junior Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne isn’t to say Freeze was totally unhappy with Auburn’s quarterback play after the Tigers’ spring game.

Regardless of if Freeze felt he had a starting quarterback on his roster prior to Thorne’s arrival to The Plains, Freeze knew his quarterback room was green. In the spring, Ashford, a rising sophomore, was Auburn’s most experienced signal caller with just nine career starts.

So Freeze wet a line in the transfer portal and reeled Thorne away from Michigan State, where the rising junior quarterback was likely to start his third season with the Spartans.

During his three seasons in East Lansing, Thorne tallied 26 career starts, 6,494 passing yards with a 60.9% completion rating, 49 passing touchdowns and 24 interceptions.

Thorne had his biggest season in 2021, passing for 3,233 yards, 27 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Last season, Thorne saw a slight dip in his passing numbers (2,679 yards, 19 TD, 11 INT), but was overall more efficient in 2022 as his completion rating rose from 60% to 63%.

Now, while Thorne has proven himself the better passer of he and Ashford, the transfer quarterback doesn’t bring near as much athleticism to the table. In three seasons, Thorne rushed for just 270 yards and six touchdowns.

Again, if Auburn gets absolutely nothing else from Thorne, who Vegas predicts to win the starting job, the Tigers added a seasoned figure and proven leader to an otherwise young quarterback room.

Holden Geriner

Auburn has a young, talented and low-lying quarterback on its roster in redshirt freshman Holden Geriner.

Geriner redshirted last fall after coming to The Plains as a 4-star recruit out of Savannah, Ga., where he passed for more than 7,000 yards and 71 touchdowns in high school. He also won a state title his senior season.

In his final two seasons of high school, Geriner completed 67% of his passes and tossed 61 touchdowns to just seven interceptions. ESPN went on to list Geriner as the ninth-ranked quarterback in the 2022 recruiting cycle.

In a recent interview with AL.com, ESPN college football analyst Cole Cubelic said Geriner’s name “keeps coming up” in he and Freeze’s conversations and that he doesn’t believe it’s by mistake. And many others believe Geriner has the potential to be a Saturday starter somewhere down the line.

What’s Freeze’s timeline?

During SEC Media Days, Freeze said to reporters that he told offensive coordinator Montgomery and special assistant Kent Austin to present to him a plan prior to fall camp.

Freeze went on to praise true freshman Hank Brown, but hinted that it wasn’t realistic to throw a fourth quarterback into the real competition with just a month to prepare for Week 1.

“Realistically you can’t get four kids reps in camp,” Freeze said. “So probably it’s going to be those other three for the first 10 days, trying to get enough reps to where we get it down to at least two guys and then move from there.”