Hugh Freeze is no stranger to working with transfer quarterbacks. He enjoyed success with them at Ole Miss (Bo Wallace and Chad Kelly) and Liberty (former Auburn quarterback Malik Willis) in recent years, so he’s not afraid to lean on a transfer at the most important position on the field.

Freeze’s latest transfer quarterback, however, stands out from the others he has worked with during his career. Auburn added Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne to the mix on Friday, infusing talent and some much-needed experience into the Tigers’ quarterback room. While Thorne will still have to compete for the starting job, Freeze is excited about what the former Spartans starter brings to the Tigers.

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“I think I have a pretty good feel of how to get a kid ready and what he can do, and then kind of playing to those strengths,” Freeze said Wednesday morning before teeing off at the Regions Traditions Pro-Am in Hoover. “We’ve had success with that. And now you’re getting one that’s probably more proven than any I’ve had before.”

That’s where Thorne differentiates from Freeze’s previous transfer quarterbacks; Thorne has a wealth of experience at the Power 5 level as a two-year starter at Michigan State. Wallace and Kelly at Ole Miss were junior college transfers who’d never taken an FBS snap prior to arriving in Oxford, Miss., while Willis attempted just 14 passes in two seasons as a backup at Auburn before transferring to Liberty, where he had to sit out a year before taking over the starting job in 2020.

Thorne, by comparison, started 26 games over the last three seasons at Michigan State, including all 25 games the last two seasons while being a two-time team captain. During those two seasons, he completed 61.5 percent of his passes for 5,911 yards, 46 touchdowns and 21 interceptions. He led the Spartans to an 11-2 season and Rose Bowl win in 2021, but the program took a step back last season, going 5-7 and missing out on a bowl berth.

“His leadership, his experience, his toughness, his football IQ (stand out),” Freeze said. “I just think he has won football games in a very good conference, and I think it elevates that room. I’ve said it’s all about competition, and again, I want to say: I’m excited about Robby (Ashford). I’m excited about Holden Geriner. I look forward to that competition that’s going to make us all better if handled the right way. I think it definitely improved us.”

At the very least, Thorne’s addition to the room provided motivation for Ashford, who started the final nine games of last season and exited spring practices as the top quarterback in the rotation—even before the transfer of T.J. Finley, who entered last season as the starter. Shortly after Thorne’s commitment, Ashford posted a tweet about iron sharpening iron, and he seemed eager to battle for the starting job this offseason.

In 12 games last season, and while playing through a shoulder injury for much of the year, Ashford completed 49.2 percent of his passes for 1,613 yards, seven touchdowns and seven interceptions. His completion rate was the lowest among all SEC starting quarterbacks. He also ran for 709 yards and another seven touchdowns.

Even with Ashford, Geriner and Finley competing for the starting job throughout spring practice—prior to Finley’s decision to transfer last week—Freeze didn’t hide the fact he wanted to pursue a quarterback in the transfer portal, if it was the right fit. The first-year coach was transparent about his desire to put Auburn in the best position at quarterback heading into Year 1, even after he felt “better” about the room coming out of A-Day.

“Life’s not easy,” Freeze said when asked how Ashford handled the pickup of Thorne. “It’s an unrealistic expectation if you think you’re not going to have four quarterbacks. Obviously, with T.J. leaving, we had to get another one. I’m not going to go into the season (with less than four quarterbacks), nor will I next year or the year after. We’re going to sign four quarterbacks, and every single year it’s going to be a competition. If we can’t handle that, then at any position, at any team — I mean, I don’t think we’re the only team that’s taking quarterbacks or receivers or O-line. You’ve got to grow up.

“I’m not saying Robby — I thought Robby handled it well. But I think sometimes the narrative that is created is, ‘Oh God, they took somebody else.’ Yeah. We’re going to do that every year. So is everybody else.”

Thorne will surely be the favorite to win the starting job in fall camp, given his resume (his overall passing numbers are an upgrade from last year’s QB room) and his experience in the second-best conference in college football, but he’ll still have to stave off Ashford and Geriner in the preseason. It’s an open competition until someone stakes their claim to the role of QB1, and Freeze certainly feels better about the position than he did when he took the job at Auburn in late November and when the Tigers opened spring practices at the end of February.

“We’ve had successful quarterbacks,” Freeze said. “…Again, I thought Robby and Holden really improved this spring. So, looking forward to that (competition).”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.