Payton Thorne transferred to Auburn in May with two years of eligibility and was uncertain whether he would use them both. Auburn’s starting quarterback wanted to finish his first season in the SEC with the ability to decide whether to stay or leave again now as a graduate transfer.

But when Auburn’s offense struggled through the 2023 season — it was the worst in the SEC and 8th worst nationally by passing yards per game — it convinced him that he wanted to stay here and make things work — not jump ship to somewhere that might be easier.

And when Auburn head coach sat down with Thorne “a few weeks ago,” it cemented Thorne’s choice to stay. Freeze was committing to him as his quarterback going into the 2024 season. As Freeze said Saturday, he doesn’t plan on bringing in a transfer portal quarterback to supplant Thorne.

“We’re on the same page, and I think things are going well right now,” Thorne said Monday. “I really enjoy playing for Coach Freeze, and I’m excited for what the future’s going to hold. I want to come back another year, and that’s what I told him. We had a good talk and I’m excited for where we’re headed.”

Thorne’s road at Auburn began truly at the beginning of fall camp — his first time practicing with Auburn. He was quickly thrust into the new playbook and with new receivers, many of which were still inexperienced, too.

He earned the starting quarterback job in a competition with Robby Ashford, who has entered the transfer portal since the end of the 2023 regular season. But Thorne and Ashford were stuck in a quarterback rotation throughout Auburn’s first seven games of the season which ultimately culminated in Ashford starting against Ole Miss. But it was after the Ole Miss loss, Auburn’s fourth in a row, where Freeze stepped into a larger role in game-planning with the offense and in turn eliminated the two-QB system.

That decision led to the best stretch of offense Auburn had all year.

“I think toward the second half of the year, you got a glimpse of what we could be,” Thorne said. “It still wasn’t perfect; we can still be a lot better than what we were. I think that’s what we’re going to be next year. I can say there are different pieces at receiver, guys that got here the same time I did, not a ton of experience in that area. I think we’re going to clean things up a lot, and it’s going to be a lot better for a lot of us.”

The improvement Auburn had under Throne despite an underwhelming group of receivers is why Freeze has decided to gamble on Thorne one more time going into next season.

Freeze believes if he can get improved talent around Thorne, the offense will take the next step. Auburn is expecting to sign a high-profile class of receivers headlined by five-star recruits Cam Coleman and Perry Thompson.

Thorne said he met with the receiver recruits who were on campus Sunday at Auburn’s practice and for the basketball game against USC. That group included 5-star Alabama commit Ryan Williams.

Getting those guys on campus and in Aubrun uniforms will help his confidence, Thorne said. He said he will have receivers he can confidently throw the ball up to and know they can make a play. He said it reminds him of his 2021 Michigan State offense where he could throw the ball up to now Green Bay Packers receiver Jayden Reed and future first-round pick Keon Coleman. Thorne threw for more than 3,000 yards that season in what was the best year of his collegiate career.

“I think we’re going to have some guys that can run next year,” Throne said. “Take the top off. I won’t know until January, February when we really get these guys here. Gotta finish up Signing Day to know 100% who we got here. We’ll see, probably taking another transfer I would assume. Get those guys here. See what their skills are, what their strengths are and move from them. I’d love to throw the ball downfield and get some big plays like that year as well. I’m sure we will.”

Thorne’s only concern comes with the inexperience of the freshman group. As he said approaching his 39th college start in the Music City Bowl against Maryland on Dec. 30, he has seen almost everything college football can bring. That’s why he mentioned Auburn bringing in another wide receiver transfer on top of former Georgia State receiver Robert Lewis.

Yet no matter which receivers Thorne has, he’ll go into next season with the confidence of knowing he’s the starter — something he didn’t truly have this fall. It makes it easier to become a leader of the offense, to gain a broad, detailed sense of the playbook and to have the rest of his offense look to him without question of who will be calling the shots.

“Just to take charge and act like I am the guy,” Thorne said. “That’s what I had thought, and what ended up coming to be. I think that helps more for the other guys that there’s no questioning. There’s not ‘Oh, is this guy this, this, or this?’ and I don’t know how much of that there way or not, but going into the offseason, when I say something to a receiver, he knows ‘Hey, I should probably get on the same page with this guy.’”

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