Payton Thorne picks Hugh Freeze and the Auburn Tigers

It's the lockdown podcast network, your team every day. The Auburn Tigers have landed their transfer quarterback. Former Michigan State quarterback, Peyton Thorne, has made his decision. He is committing to Hugh Freeze and the Auburn Tigers. And Darrell, there's no other way to put this. This just feels like a huge, massive, monumental day for the Auburn Tigers. It really does. I mean, we knew it was coming, worst kept secret probably in a long time, felt the momentum for the last four or five days that this was going to be the guy that was going to be targeted by Hugh Freeze finally getting a portal quarterback. So, you know, the riding was on the wall. We knew it was coming. That still doesn't make it not special. It still feels great when it finally happens officially. I loved his Twitter announcement, found it very interesting that he was put in a number one jersey. Maybe he's going to wear number one. I assume he was going to wear ten, but it looks like he's going a different direction. But this is just a very exciting day for Auburn fans, not to take anything away from the quarterback room now or what they could bring to the future. They improve in the summer. Just the fact, though, that when you have a position of need, you go out and get somebody at this caliber, very exciting, something great for, as you would say, all the Auburn fans to bug about. Yeah, I mean, this is all about bugging. This is all about bugging right now because I think Peyton Thorne, I guess he represents a few things. And I don't know if upside is one of them, which is a little interesting as of why this feels so big. But I think he offers some sort of stability. I talked about this on the show that went up earlier today with J.D. Peckel, Darrell, about how I think the floor for Auburn football season has now shifted up several floors. I think all of a sudden you don't have to worry about like, well, what if the office just never turns the corner? What if the office just never really figures it out? What if, you know, the passing game doesn't ever really materialize? All of a sudden, those questions, you can still ask them. But I think the likelihood of them being, you know, negative outcomes, it definitely decreases those chances of it turning just to be an abysmal season all of a sudden goes away. The ceiling, I still think the ceiling for Peyton Thorne is high. Michigan State's offensive scheme looked like a Brian Harson-ish offense. I don't think that offense put guys in situations to succeed. I think that's why there are two best offensive players left and I quote that from, you know, locked on Spartan's host Matt Sheehan who does an outstanding job will certainly have him on the show next week. But I think it represents the fact of like, there's nothing really flooky about this. This is a solid college football quarterback despite what some people are going to say. And the fact is like, okay, he's going to lead your program for at least one season. I think I fully expect him to win the job with a chance to possibly do it for two seasons under a head coach. Under head coach who gets to start this era at Auburn football for a guy that's known for making quarterbacks better. There is nothing to be upset about with this. That's the key point. I feel like Auburn could have settled and could have been content with the quarterback room they had and felt like, well, Hugh Freeze is really good with quarterbacks. So look what he can do with Robbie Ashford. And I do feel like there would have been improvement. And I do feel like Auburn would have been ball eligible with the quarterback room that it has now. But that's not what you need to be satisfied with when you're coming over to take names in the SEC and your two biggest rivals are Alabama and Georgia. And you've got to compete at that level. You better accelerate and increase the ceiling and get the ceiling higher than it is right now so that you can go ahead and compete at this level. You can't just be satisfied with that. You have to look at improving it substantially. And that's why the combination of a guy that's played two years in the Big Ten and had some success with Hugh Freeze and Phil Montgomery coaching takes it another level. It raises that ceiling. And I don't know what the quantity is of wins. Is it a plus two? Is it a plus three over last year? I don't know. But I think it puts you in a better position to get everything you can out of this football team. Sure. I don't think there's any question about that. And once again, being pro adding form has turned into this, being anti-robby, being anti whatever you want it to be. And that's just not necessarily the case. It can be the case. But I don't think it certainly is. This is now about Hugh Freeze and Phil Montgomery having more options as far as picking who's just the best option to lead the team in 2023. That's what this is about. Well, great point. Because if Peyton Thorne comes here and Hugh Freeze does what he says he's going to do is not just hand the job, he better not. I mean, it needs to be an open competition because there's a sense of integrity and honoring what you say. And for whatever reason, Robbie Ashford was to beat out Peyton Thorne, then my gosh, the quarterback room's gotten significantly better anyway. What would that say about Robbie Ashford's maturation and progress? Do we feel like that's going to happen? I don't want to sell Robbie Ashford short. I just, my gut feeling tells me no. Thorne's brought here because of his passing acumen and he's going to be the guy that wins the job. But if he didn't, it's because Robbie Ashford got significantly better and has the tool set to do that. So that's the first thing. The second narrative that I want to put to bed that I'm getting a really, really tired about because of what hurt Michigan State fans and riders that just can't be honest and get their feelings hurt is if Peyton Thorne truly got beat out in the spring, which didn't happen, then why is he coming to Auburn without a guaranteed starting position where Hugh Freeze makes it very clear you're going to compete. It's an open competition. If he was afraid of competition, he would go somewhere where the coach guaranteed a starting position and they're out there. Okay. So this narrative that he got beat out was scared of competition. That's why he left. It's a lie. It's a lie and it's a lie. It's a lie. It's a better about them than about themselves. They got their feelings hurt is all that is. Let me ask you if this sounds familiar. Somebody goes out and his first year starting has a better year than you expected. In his case, he won 11 games and maybe another case that Auburn fans are more familiar with. You know, 2019, you win the iron ball, right? And then you have another season where the offense doesn't really work out for you. The pieces around you don't work. The scheme doesn't elevate your style of play or your game or your stats or anything like that. And in return, despite you giving four years of your life of hard work to do all of that and reach that point, the fan base at Michigan State said, you know what? No. You know, our host locked on Spard's match. He did a show on how, you know, he would rather Michigan State go six and six with one of the younger quarterbacks versus going eight and four with Peyton Thorne because it'd be better for the growth. Stupid take and he walked it back on a show that he did earlier this week. Now the Peyton Thorne is gone and they're all kind of like, uh oh, what's going on? But it feels very similar to BONIX leaving is what I'm getting. It feels very, very similar to BONIX. And then all of a sudden you look, BONIX is in a better situation in Oregon and all of a sudden it's like, man, he's one of the best players in the pack. All of a Caleb Williams wasn't over there. He may be the best player in the pack as well. And so Auburn, I think from the roster from top to bottom is currently in a better situation. At least the starters. I don't know if depth is better, but the starters I think are better with the exception of the wide receiver position is better at Auburn than it is at Michigan State. And so I think also Hugh Freeze's scheme is going to be better. I think the NIL situation is going to be better. I believe fan support is going to be better once he wins the job. And when he runs out in here in stadium, he's not going to be met by a bunch of Boo Birds like he was in front of Michigan State fans a year ago. Doesn't concern me at all that a quarterback regresses from year one to year two. If he can bounce back in year three and we've seen that happen in Auburn history numerous times. There's a variety of reasons that one year, a one year snapshot could be a little bit different and a little bit of a regression because of your best running back leaving. And Kenneth Walker, who was a stud, your scheme, people catching up to what Mel Tucker's offensive coordinator was trying to do. I mean, it happens. It happens a lot. And as long as you can go ahead and come back into year three, I mean, you know, I'm just going to tell you, I mean, I hate to keep making comparisons. It's just because of what I've seen and what I've watched is Kenny Pickett when he was a freshman at Pitt had a really good year and he regressed his sophomore year. He stayed in the system, got better coaching, a better offensive coordinator, had a great senior year and got drafted into the first round. I mean, that's just you could throw out numerous guys if that happens to. Now if Peyton Thorn was to regress again in year three, then you raise the red flag. But see what I mean, you can have bounce back years because Bo Nix did. I mean, you know, I felt like his 2020 year, although it was a COVID year, was a little bit sketchy and then as he started to hit his stride under Harston his last year, despite Harston, that Mississippi state game was one of the best games I've ever seen a quarterback play until he broke his foot. He was flawless. He was incredible that game. So you can bounce back from year to year, especially if you get the right coaching. And that's what Auburn hasn't had for a while. We'll see it with freeze and we'll see it with this quarterback. All right. Another angle that I think this is big and Peyton Thorn is clearly a part of this, Daryl. But I think as you zoom out and you look at what Hugh Freeze is doing with this football program, there's two angles of this. Let's start with the NIL aspect of it, then we'll get to the other one. But you have to think that NIL is involved and now that he's committed and will be enrolled soon, that he will be taken care of by onto victory. You have to assume that. That is a very clear assumption in the modern day levels of college football. And I think there's been folks throughout the national college football media that have looked at Auburn and said, like, are they ever going to figure it out? Is Auburn ever going to get on the same page? And I think with the transfer portal class that Hugh Freeze has done, you get three starting offensive linemen. You may get two starting linebackers. You may just be one in a reserve guy. We'll certainly see. But I mean, all of these pieces that they add, you're starting kick returner. I mean, there's a lot that's going to go on in this. And I think the situation that has been thrown together very quickly ever since Hugh Freeze took over the starting job, you should get excited about this if you're an Auburn fan. I mean, this is a man that is leading this program with like no sleep because he is just having to really just tape everything together until he can get his feet set. And I don't know when he's going to be able to get his feet set there. Because the biggest months in recruiting of the year are about to start. And so all of a sudden, I think there's proof, a proof of concept has been created by what Hugh Freeze and this staff have done in such a short amount of time. And I think adding your quarterback, I mean, that is the exclamation mark that everybody cares most about is who is going to be the quarterback and Hugh Freeze go out and get a quarterback that can compete. And I think he did it. I think he did it, Darrell. And the fact that you can tie NILN and roster management in and also just doing the dang job and going out and being proactive and doing it. This is just stuff that we haven't seen in Auburn. We haven't seen what Hugh Freeze has done in the short amount of time. There's a long way to go, but what he's done in the short amount of time should get you fired up. It's why I understand he has his detractors and people no matter what he does are going to because they have an agenda are going to pile on him and I get it. I mean, you know, you can't, you cannot undum some of those comments and some of those people's takes. So let's look at it objectively. Put all the garbage aside that you want to have with the preconceived notion. If you follow Auburn or you write and just look at the body of work and what he's done from it from the time he's been here. Auburn fans should be thrilled with the commitment he showed this program, the commitment and how he has sold out to do the very best job he can for Auburn fans and put the very best roster on the field. You weren't used to that the last two or three years. He is doing whatever he can and whatever he takes, whatever it takes to put a product on the field that's the best. If it hurts feelings, it hurts feelings. If someone gets upset because they were the incumbent, play harder, practice harder. He doesn't care. I mean, he cares about his players. I'm saying his motive and his, the way he's operating this football team is I got to put the very best players on the field that I can and roster reconstruction and I'm going to work my tail off for Auburn Nation to do this. He has done nothing to take that recruiting class and get it into the top 20 to take a portal class, which now is it was top five before this. I suspect it's top four at least and to have the 2024 class in the top 15, which is only going to ascend this way. You cannot. There's nothing you can do about that now. At the end of the day, he's going to get graded at what he does on the field. I get it, but we're not on the field yet. We're asking to take an assessment and a progress report of where it is right now and where it is right now. You couldn't ask for anything more of an Auburn fan unless you have a bias and I'm just going to leave it at that. I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm texting our locked on Spartan toast right now. We'll see if we can get him on. Let me just try to call me. I'm like, no, I had to be was free. He called me. Thank you, Matt. But no, I want you to come on. I'm going to get you there. The other angle is the fact that Q freeze did not settle. While it gave several people panic attacks, are they going to get a quarterback? There are a lot of decent quarterbacks in the portal, but I think Robbie's decent. I don't know if that really makes your room better. I think Robbie and Holden are going to have the similar upside is what a lot of these people are going to have. He didn't settle. He talked about, I think, at the ambush meeting, I think you talked about that when you came on the show on Thursday, where it's like, he wanted certain traits. If you did not have those traits, he wasn't just going to add you to the roster because that defeats the purpose of the biggest task that he has in front of him right now about flipping the roster. You don't have to worry about that. He saw two guys that he thought checked all the boxes or checked enough boxes for him to bring in. Casey Thompson, it sounds like that visit was extensive, but the whole time, the whole time Peyton Thorne was playing A the whole time. I think the fact is there's questions about Casey Thompson's health. I think that shoulder is a big, big concern. I also think just the upside that Peyton Thorne offers as a two-year option opposed to just Casey Thompson's one-year option. I saw a few comments saying that they don't think that Thorne's going to be here in 24. If he's not here in 24, it's because he was good enough to go to the league. Which you can't make. We all think that'll part me. I will take that all day and on Sunday. Here's the thing. It shows me that Hugh Freese is very aware of the Auburn fan base first of all. He knows how to read the room. When he made the statement in Huntsville about, hey, every time a quarterback jumps in the portal, our fans want us to get him. That tells you he's paying attention to that. There's no way you just either hear that from somebody else or you're aware of that and have good self-awareness. But then he goes ahead and soothes the souls with this next statement saying, but I'll know who he's going to be when I see him. I haven't seen him yet, but I will. To me, that made me feel instantly better. I didn't have too much anxiety about it anyway because I trusted him. If that really kind of settled things down a little bit and also kind of gave me a hint that there might be some things on the horizon. I hope so. I hope so. Then I think that's the next question. When are receivers coming? Because you look at it and it's like, I don't think there's any debate. That is the worst position group or the position with the biggest amount of questions on the roster. Because I've taught myself in the linebacker situation more than I've talked myself into the receivers at this point. Couldn't be wrong, but I love Camden Brown. I love Givari Johnson. I think Koy Moore can be a good piece. I don't know exactly where he's going to be using this offense, but I think there's a big drop off after that. You need more than three reliable receivers. I'm not sold on Nick Marner yet. I think he could do it. I'm just not sold on it. I'm actually putting it all together yet. I think there's just inconsistencies as far as what you want out of your passcatchers right now. Is Peyton Thorn a big enough addition, Darrell? Is Peyton Thorn a big enough addition where some of these got Montana Lemonius Craig? Is that enough? Is he like, you know what? I'll catch passes from him. Burton, the kid from Ohio State, is that a big enough thing where he's like, you know what? Yeah, let's do this. Let's do this. I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. And obviously Keon Coleman, who's probably the best receiver in the transfer portal right now who caught passes from Peyton Thorn the last two seasons. Maybe that could be part of this too. I don't really see that, but a lot of people are saying, hey, it could happen. We'll certainly see. Darrell, I'm curious to see what you know about that. If you're going to add a receiver, you got to think it's going to be after they found their quarterback. Well, there's a couple of guys that I talked to, former Auburn Letterman that I know really, really well, that have played the position, also played offensive line that I'm, you know, a very, very close to and I can just kind of pick up the phone and say, hey, what are you hearing or those kind of things? And one of the things that was the common theme through three or four of these gentlemen was it's a domino effect and no receiver worth salt is going to come to Auburn and commit to Auburn until he finds out who the quarterback's going to be. And they were all in agreement and felt pretty comfortable that once the quarterback committed, you'll start to see some receivers come after. Now, you know, the natural assumption is a guy that went to his school in Keon Coleman that he threw to may not necessarily be the case. But I do think that a guy like the Texas San Antonio guy that's really good and, you know, Lemony is Craig and those kinds of guys were waiting to see, I feel like, what Auburn did. And maybe Burton did too. I'm just a little higher on the guys that I felt like I could look at and see numbers and stats attributed to. So I think that's the first thing. I think you want to see, okay, who's throwing us the ball? Because if you go somewhere and you don't have a viable quarterback that can air it out and it's strictly a running type game, a running type quarterback system, I get the RPO. But if you're run heavy on that RPO, you don't throw it 25, 30 times, those receivers are going to be the ones that don't benefit or get penalized for that because they can't rack up any statistics because there's not enough balls in the air going their way. That's why I think it matters. They want to see a proficient passing attack so they can put up numbers because these guys have aspirations beyond college as well. All right. So several people have commented since the offseason that Hugh Freitz would not be able to add a quarterback. And I'm so glad that that narrative can just die. Well, that's because of what happened in December. And a lot of people are getting too locked into that and thinking that, well, maybe this was just a second choice. Maybe this was a fallback. Maybe this was a plan B. Well, I mean, if the Grayson McCall thing had worked out, I don't know what would have happened. I'm not, you know, I don't have a crystal ball, but I do know this. I know that there were some other dudes that went into the portal of December that Auburn passed on like Spencer Sanders and said, thanks, but no thanks. Or the NC State kid that went to leery, Devin leery. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I think that there were, you know, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a board, a quarterback board, a U-freeze and Phil Montgomery's office and they said, okay, we got five guys who want to target if they go into the portal, if they don't, you know, whatever, they may not be in there now. But if they do, you want to contact if they, if they're in there now. And I think that in my opinion, that Peyton Thore was one of those guys that as soon as he jumped into the portal, the radar for Hugh Freese went way up. And I think Casey Montgomery was one of those guys too. There's no doubt. But I think that, I mean, Casey Thompson, excuse me, I feel like he was too much. But I do believe that he had a specific plan. And I think this plan was for all along once the spring portal opened because he didn't see what he wanted to see in December period. I mean, I just don't think that there's, there was very many options even in December. There was leery and there was McCall that was potentially linked to Auburn. And after that, I heard nothing. People wanted to say Sanders and wanted to say Chance Nolan from Oregon State and that happened, but that wasn't really in my opinion reality. Yeah, I mean, Chance Nolan's probably going to be a backup at TCU right now, which, okay. And then Spencer Sanders, despite what Ole Miss people say, like, no, he didn't pick to be a, you know, to link Kiffin over Hugh Freese, we never offered him. No one, no one has ever been able to approve that he got offered. And it's just, once again, all these narratives are crap. It's crap. And it's like Hugh Freese is doing this. Like Hugh Freese is killing every aspect of this job that he possibly can. Now it doesn't really matter until you start playing football games, but the fact that all of a sudden now, and I've seen a lot of people in live jazz say this, like the offense, I think is about to become a lot more respectable. I think when you look at what Peyton Thorne can do with his feet, obviously nowhere near what Robbie Ashford could do with his feet, but it's enough where you have to respect it. But running game, you know, we saw what Peyton Thorne was able to do, throwing the football when defenses had to respect the running game. Kenneth Walker was very, very good. He still is very, very good. Jarkwez Hunter could be just as good. Demariosa could be a solid, solid piece in this running game, as well as Jeremiah Cobb and Brian Batsy certainly are rolling this offense, especially in the special teams, but I think as far as defenses respecting what they're going to do running the football, and he's got enough pop to do all this. And we've seen his decision making be good enough to run this RPO. He didn't do a whole lot of RPO as far as I can tell at Michigan State. So I think that is a question mark. Can he kind of get that going over the course of summer? And that's why I think it's, I'm glad that he's kind of already doing this, so we can go ahead and start throwing at these wide receivers. But that to me is the biggest question is can he adapt to do this RPO stuff? Because he's got the athleticism to do it. He's got the decision making to do it. And I think he's got the arm to do it. It's just now can he, can he put it all together and get some chemistry going with these wide receivers? We'll have the opportunity to get coached up on that, which is good. I trust in Montgomery and you freeze getting him up to speed. He seems to be athletic enough. Son of a coach. Remember his dad was a high school football coach, so a lot of times they catch on to things quicker, schemes, playbooks, that kind of thing. And don't underestimate the fact that Auburn's offensive line got better too. And we talk about all these rooms and needing more receivers in our running back room being really good. And I love it because that'll take some pressure off him. But at the end of the day, we went out and built that fortress first, built that foundation of getting some good offensive lineman. Yes. And made that room better and made that, I mean, the proof will be in the pudding, but I feel like it's better already than it was, that offensive line is better than it was last year. So you combine that with good running backs, good creative offensive play calls that aren't being called by Spud. And you've got at the end of the day, something that I think is very, very lethal in a combination because don't underestimate him not having to run for his life. I think that's important. And I think the offensive line is going to be key there. Yeah, the Spud Buds are gone. No doubt about it. So he's wearing number one in his commitment post. And we kicked TJ Finley out so he could have that number. Was that the point? Yeah, that's what it all came down to. Was we went ahead and pulled him, get moving. We got a kid that wants to commit in three or four days, wants that number, wants to put it in the graphics. So that's role. I think it's, I mean, I thought he was going to wear 10 and, you know, he was going to look like bone eggs, but apparently he wants to forge his own path is how I'm looking at that. And I love that. I absolutely love that. And I like, you know, him wearing number one. That's pretty cool. Yeah, I like it. I like it. Just drop the zero. I think that's cool. I think that's cool. I also opened up to live comments. There's like 500 of y'all in here, which is very, very cool. All right. So Lee, Jason Jones in here, by the way, do we have Jason Jones here? Yeah, he said war eagle to everybody. Told everyone to have a great day. He loves everybody. So that was really cool having Auburn starting defensive lineman in here. We appreciate him being in here. Definitely a friend of the program. Jason will be a big part of the show for the remainder of the year, for sure. Lisa is thorn. Jarquez, Demari, Badty, Cam Brown, Coyne Moore, Marner and Approve Line can't be worse. And like, I don't know if that's the way we want to be thinking, but he's right. But he's right. Like it can't be worse in a year ago. I like to tie it in room two. I mean, fair weather provides him another target in the seam and short yardage inside the 10 yard line. I really feel like that's a quarterback's dream to have an athletic tight end that can get down field. So we focus on receiver, but if you have some weapons at the tight end position two that you could throw to and maybe, you know, I liked that tee out of the backfield. He really looked good. Catching passes out of the backfield. That's another, you know, option with a wheel route and that kind of thing. I just think you have a lot more options and a lot more possibilities that gets me really excited to think about the weapons now that you freeze has gone out in the portal and got for, for this offense. It's incredible. Apollo says potato man punching air today. Probably not. Probably not care enough to like, yeah, I mean, he's in Mexico or something. Who knows? I'm sure he's got in a very nice vacation situation. You got a lot of money. Phil says if you're wearing number one, you got to be the guy. I'm with you. I'm with you on that. I'm with you on that. Jordan asks, does this add one to two more wins on the season when looking at adding Peyton Thorne? What are your thoughts there? I'll let you go first on this one. Yeah, I hate going out on a limb, but I'm going to because I feel like an honest question deserves an honest answer to people want to hold me to this at the end of the year next year if I'm wrong, that's great. But I got to give my honest opinion and I've said all along to you that I felt like getting a upgrade at quarterback, somebody that can make the plays and make the throws gives Auburn one to two more wins. So yes, I agree with that sentiment. And I think that Auburn would have been ball eligible anyway. I do believe that full force and Robbie and the coaching staff, the noncon stinks. You play for noncon to the one he wrote gives his V. Yeah, I think that's what helps you. It's games anyway, but this maybe gets you into that eight nine seven eight nine threshold what could be a little bit better and get to a little bit of ball game. But of course, don't sell it short. Let's see what the ceiling can can provide. Yeah, I mean, I think you look at the maybes, right? At college station at LSU, if you want to put that as a maybe the Mississippi State School at home and at Arkansas. And it's like, can you win an extra one or two of those? You know, it's starting Peyton instead of Robbie. Am I gutsy? I feel comfortable about I feel comfortable about Auburn winning all its non conference games and I feel comfortable about them splitting their SEC games and going four and four. And that gets you at eight and four. And I don't feel like I'm going out on a limb with that. I think they can beat Cal out and Cal. I really do. I think the other three cupcakes that they play where the other noncons will be, you know, Auburn should win. And then just split just split in the SEC with confident coaching and a much improved offense, including offensive line. Yeah, I'm cool with that. I mean, they won two games last year in the SEC for the love of God. I mean, I won was kind of flooky with the Missouri game, but still, I mean, they won two games last year. There's no reason to think that they can't win two more than they did last year with that dumpster fire that was last year when Harson was coaching is Peyton Thorne, a top half quarterback in the SEC. Yeah, I believe he is. I think he is too. Now, I think it's down here for quarterbacks in the SEC. Let's add that caveat. I mean, there's just a lot of there's a lot of question marks, you know, I mean, two guys that feel like have been playing for forever left. I mean, that's that's that's part of it. But but yeah, I think he is. He's thrown for, I mean, the quick math, what 30 54 hundred yards in two years. Is that what it turns out to me? He's thrown for 50 touchdowns in his two years starting. Has Auburn ever had that? Have we had like, if you added two years together, have we ever had that? No, 50 touchdowns and 50 400 yards. In two years, if you tell me a dude's going to average 25 touchdowns and 27 hundred yards throwing the season, I take that all day. I don't think we I mean, stid them had the potential to do that in a little different offense. I think if Gus would have opened it up a little bit for him, I really think he would have spun. Yeah, he would have spun. He could spin it. I think he would have had. I mean, the the bowl game against Purdue was the biggest tease in the history for all refan saying this is what we could have seen for a lot of the year. If this would put the offense look like. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, I think he is top half in the SEC right now, which is great. I think that's solid. So once again, football's not played on paper. You know, I mean, Peyton Thorne's going to have to go out and earn it. He's going to have to be that Robbie because Robbie made it clear on his Instagram that he's like, yeah, I'm not I'm not backing down or whatever, you know, keep that same energy. And it's like, I don't know if that's the message I would send Robbie, but like I get your I get your intent on this. I would have said it differently, but I get your intent. So we'll see. We'll see. Another element of this that we haven't talked about is like the locker room. I think that's where Robbie's weaknesses. I actually don't think Robbie's weaknesses is on field stuff. I think it's the fact that like you have other players that you're practicing with every day and going through life with quote tweeting articles and quote tweeting announcements of other quarterbacks entering the portal and they're asking them to come here. And it's like you clearly don't have the locker room and you don't have control over this offense and these offensive players if people are doing that. Yeah. And I think Peyton Thorne is going to be able to come in and take over this locker room much like we saw Jared Stenham do several years ago. I think this is a great opportunity that Robbie Ashford needs to take and look at and say, I have a tremendous opportunity to show maturity and growth to my teammates and put those narratives or those opinions to bed by saying, if I first first things first is I'm going to compete my rear end off in the summer to win this job. I'm going to get everything I have. I'm not going to concede anything. I'm not. I'm going to I want to win this job. And then if he doesn't handle it like a good teammate and say, whatever role they want me in, short yardage, inside the 10 zone reads, whatever, I'll be glad to do it to help this football team. That's the mindset that has to happen. If he does that, he will elevate himself in the eyes of his teammates and their maturation process will take place there. They'll be very, very beneficial for him. I think in the way his teammates view him. A lot of people would say Robbie's going to change positions. There is no. You know, we saw it get done once is everyone just to suit Cody Burns is a completely different kind of dude. And Robbie still has a skill set that is beneficial to Auburn in certain packages in certain situations that can help Auburn win games next year, if willing to do that and take on that type of attitude and you think you will do that? You think you will draw packages for Robbie? I do. I do. I absolutely do. He's too. I am. He's doing. I mean, he's having things he does with his feet going back and watching the iron bowl highlights this morning. He does things with his feet that are God given that you can't teach that can be used in certain situations. I'll tell you this. Nobody knows for sure, but I'm a I would absolutely bet if I was a betting man. Sorry for the folks out west with me. I was a bet if I was a betting man, I would say if Robbie Ashford would have started the iron bowl in 2021 instead of TJ Finley, Auburn wins has a better chance to win that game. I could see him getting us fourth and one. Sure. We needed four or third one when we needed it with his dynamic, how he gets outside and all that out. We would have a lot. We could have won that game and held on because we could have moved the ball when we needed to do a round of the clock out. So there may be situations in a football game where it's fourth and one and you better get that one yard to seal the game, to ice the game, to run out the clock. And I would feel really good about Robbie Ashford coming in under center in a read option, RPO scenario, getting that one yard. Yeah. I mean, name a better betting man than an Alabama baseball coach. I'm having a hard time. I'm having a hard time doing it. I'm having a hard time doing it. Yeah. I need to go back and look, has Hugh Freeze ever done that before? And obviously the variable is, you know, do you have a backup quarterback that's as dynamic as that? And he hasn't. But I am curious to see that if he's ever done that before, because Harrison tried to do it, right? But just the way that they rotated the day Robbie out, it was bad for both of them. So I don't think you're going to see that where, you know, if something happens in a drive stalls or an interceptions made, that's how Harrison did it. He would put in the backup. I'm talking about specific packages where you let Robbie Ashford know ahead of time and Thor know ahead of time. Hey, if we need two yards, we may run this play with Robbie because he gives us the best chance to get the first down and let him know ahead of time. I don't know if Hugh Freeze has ever had a quarterback from a running standpoint like Robbie Ashford. Chad Kelly, Kooten, Volal, Kooten, Malik, Willis, but Malik Willis was also his starter. So there was no need to take him out. He was your fourth down guy because he had all those attributes. So I don't know. I may be, you know, going out and a little in with that, but I'd love to see it. And I think that would keep him engaged and let him know he still has a role and is integral to help Auburn get his goals. Florence Tiger says free has, Freeze has done it. Who do you do it with? Who was, who was the quarterback that he subbed in? I'm, I'm curious. I'm curious because I'm not doubting you. I just, I would like to know because I'm not sure on that. Um, let's see. I'm looking at other ones. A lot of talk about fair weather benefiting from this. Yeah. I'm cool with that. Uh, I think it, I think all the past catchers in theory benefit from this, but Revaldo fair weather certainly going to be a big part of the offense. Sure. I get it. If I'm painting thorny, it's one of the first five guys I'm calling. No doubt. I agree. Um, again, I think people are going to be really excited to see what fair weather does inside the 10 15 yard line this year to have that tied in that can, you know, put your back to the goal line and seal that defender with that big body. Oh, it's glorious and go get the ball at the one and fall backwards into the goal line and smash the dude that's covered him. I can just, I can envision it right now. Again, I'm 54 years old and I can, I don't know if it's because I had a built bar or what, but I'm boogin. I just, I'm very excited. I, you know, I think this is great. There's been a lot of stuff, a lot of crap that's happened the last two and a half years. And for things to fall into place, I will never, ever apologize when Auburn gives us something to be excited about and you shouldn't apologize as a fan or feel like you're overreacting or when you get excited about something that's pertaining to Auburn football, because Auburn football fans deserve it and they've earned it with the last two years that has happened. Yeah. And there's a lot of really active Auburn fan like that, that just want to poop on everything. You don't have to like TK. It's okay to be happy, buddy. Just be, I mean, you know, again, I'm not, you don't apologize for being excited about it or being afraid that fatalistic attitude. Well, if I get too excited, I get my hopes up. Yeah, we got a, we got a Spartans fan. Thank you for stopping by. I think this is a really insightful comment. It says MSU Spartan fan here. I am so bummed we are losing form. Auburn is getting a really good quarterback. This kid was born with a football in his hand. Comes from a football family. His dad is a coach dot, dot, dot, A.W., thank you for that. And I think just talking with Spartans media members and I mentioned locked on Spartans. I think he's done a good job covering this from a Michigan State point of view where it's like, yeah, I mean, it seems like he did nothing but positive things for Michigan State and Michigan State people are just kind of saying, you know, no, no, you can't break up. You can't fire me. I quit, you know, like, or she didn't break up with me. I was going to break up with her anyway. I mean, it really, really feels like that. I don't know what that feels like, but anyway, I'm. Dang. I'm Tis. I'm Tis. You're a savage. I'm a huge fan of this for about Arizona. I think that if you use the date there on the past, please comment in the live chat. Thank you. Do not please. All right. Here's the thing that it's a great point about that. When you feel jilted, you automatically start to get defensive. And I know, look, we've been there. Auburn fans have been there. You mentioned it with bonyx. That's absolutely true. That's happened. And so the bottom line is this. If there are people that cover Michigan State that you trust and you know that aren't fan boys and don't have an agenda or a motive, and they're very honest and say, hey, look, you know, it's a loss. It's a loss for Michigan State. We lost our starting quarterback. We feel like he could go on and do good things at Auburn. That's what you look for. And they're out there. I'll be honest. We've only left the first thing I thought was he's going to light it up out in Oregon. But that coaching staff and the Pac 12 defenses that I've watched, he is going to light it up and he did. So maybe there's some honest Michigan State fans that don't feel so jilted that will come to that same conclusion and say he gave us two good years at 11 win season, a group of five bowl game victory. That's all good. Leet says he's a Sparty fan. Thorne is a dog last year was horrible, but he just needs a new, a fresh new team. And I think that's it. I think horrible is relative because Auburn would have taken those stats, what? 17 touchdowns, 11 interceptions and 2700 yards. I mean, that puts him right in the middle of the pack of the SEC. And you know, I'm not trying to disrespect what he says about horrible. I just don't, I don't perceive that as horrible. Sure. So Robbie asked for tweeted. They were talking about that in live chat. I got it pulled up here. Robbie tweeted five minutes ago. He says, let's work iron, chiper, iron sharpens iron, war Eagle. So there you go. I hope he keeps that same kind of energy. And that will show a lot to me as far as his maturation process. And at the end of the day, helping look, there are numerous examples. And all you got to do is look across the state of a guy that could have been really upset, really hurt and transferred earlier. Now, Jalen hurts left and went to Oklahoma when it was very, but when two had tongue of a low, one, that starting job and took over his attitude and the way he handled it should be an example. And that's how you win your teammates over. I know it's not easy. I know it's difficult. But if you do that, you can elevate your team. And at the bottom line is just try to do what's best for your team and help your team win. And Robbie can do that by handling this the right way. That's right. That's right. Clay asked, was the official reason that he was leaving Michigan State? It seems like the one that's most reasonable is the fact that like the fan base like didn't like him. It's really what it seems like. I mean, even, you know, we have the number one Michigan State podcast in our network locked on Spartans and he did a show about this for folks just joining us. And he did one several weeks ago saying, I would rather go six and six with a new star to than eight and four with Peyton Thorne because they've got some younger guys that they're excited about, which is ridiculous. It's absolutely ridiculous. And he's since walked that back. But I think that's kind of the feeling of a lot of the fan base. They just kind of wanted to move on and fleet was talking about that needs a fresh new team. And that happens right there. I mean, sometimes relationships run its course. And once again, it feels very similar. Feels very similar to Bo Nick's leaving here a few years ago. True. A lot of people didn't think that the impact that the fans had on Nick's in their family and the hate that was kind of thrown his way or the criticism and all that. Did they know that it really affected him directly? We've heard that it has and it did. And Bo Nick's goes on to Oregon gets a fresh start. That was a great year under different coaching with the different coaching staff. So it can be done. The template in the blueprint is there. And I just think that at the end of the day, when you come back to what the bottom line or to summarize all this is, is that you freeze is going out and doing everything you can with a with a just a savage mentality of I'm doing the very best I can to put the best product on the field. Feelings be darned. And that's kind of what's happening right now. Yeah. A W came back the one of the Michigan State fans in here. Jeff Thorne, which is Peyton's dad. This is the Western Michigan office, a coordinator, thorn placed chess, so to speak. And his dad more than likely recommended Auburn. So cool. I think that's great. I also think that means that Hugh Freeze has some respect among fellow coaches, which in the transfer portal era, that's not a bad thing to have. Absolutely. And that's the networking in the back channels where people start to talk and make recommendations. And that man, that's great. That's a great scenario to have where I feel like previous coaching staffs, people were maybe told specifically to stay away and you had to work doubly as hard to get somebody even on campus. Right. Right. So I assume we're going to have visits now this weekend. You think somebody else pops this week? Do you think we can know the commitment this weekend now? I do. I think that people will have to put up with this ugly mug over the weekend. Maybe us to jump on again, that there may be another one. I do. I feel like one, maybe two, may pop this weekend. And I just think this is a snowball effect. The quarterback comes into play as far as the offense goes. I don't want to undermine or underplay McCloud in his commitment, how big that was early in the week. Well, thank you to McCloud for that kind of getting the ball rolling. When everyone was kind of a little anxious, right? Well, when are we going to get some good news? And then he pops and everybody's so focused on like wins a quarterback come and they're like, that's not a quarterback. Give us their quarterback. I know. And he's a position in need. I mean, he makes us better. McCloud makes Auburn better on the defensive side of the ball. So yeah, it's just, it's great. It's exciting. And again, let's be, let's revel in it and be really, really joyful. This is fun to jump on here and talk about things that are good and that make this football team better. We should all be very excited about that. Yeah. Okay. People letting us know what Travon Reed said we ain't done, which is pretty normal, which is pretty normal because Travon Reed's ever done. And I love that. That's one of the many reasons I love T. Reed. So yeah, I mean, I love Jaden Muskrat, the former Tulsa office of lineman, I would love for him to come in and help out for him. Maybe fight for one of those guard spots or be the third tackle in this offense. I think that would make a ton of sense. But the biggest question mark still is wide receiver. Can Thorne attract wide receivers? Is even talking to Kion Coleman? Is that a real possibility? I believe Coleman is visiting FSU this weekend. So that's not going to be one that comes in this weekend or pop this weekend. If it does, it won't be Auburn's favor. You'd have to think. But to me, still the biggest question mark, Darrell, is wide receiver wide receiver wide receiver. And I'll buy with Auburn starters, but you need debt. You need more. You need more of them. Yeah. I'd be happy with two more. And I believe that this will attract, you know, a couple of wide receivers that we can add to the wide receiver room. So if Auburn wants to go four wide, throw it all over the yard, they'll have the opportunity to do that. I believe we'll see a couple of receivers pop. I really do. And I think Peyton Thorne was the first domino in that. I don't know if it'll be Coleman or it'll be Craig, you know, and I keep forgetting the kid's name from Texas, San Antonio. I apologize because he's not been in the forefront. I don't even know if he's been on campus yet for a visit, but I know Auburn's offered him. And of course, the kid at BYU, Epps, that Auburn offered pulled his name out of the portal. He went back to BYU. Got it. And then Caleb Burton is another kid, four star receiver from Ohio State. We visited last weekend. Yes. So we've got some guys lined up. We've got some guys. You know, he's got a guy quiet with the Hudson kid from TCU that everybody was just assuming was going to go to SMU and he hasn't committed yet. So who knows? Maybe he was waiting to see who the quarterback was going to be. Yeah. I think Hudson is one to look at. That's the Apollo God of Sunshine, just to correct that said Burton committed to Iowa. He did not. That was Brown. The other receiver. The other Ohio State receiver. Yeah. So Apollo God of Sunshine pumping can pump some more sunshine. Yeah. Nothing that Burton has not committed yet. We all have our role Apollo. You keep pumping the sunshine, my friend. Joseph pointing out that Reed T. Reed tagged Fortin in the We Ain't Done tweet. So maybe offensive lines coming. That makes sense. And Jane Musker would be a great addition to this roster. Not only for 2023, but for 2024 where all of a sudden it's like, okay, you're going to lose Britain. You may lose Wade. You are going to lose Jones. But some of those spots like a Zabian Miller can slot in and all of a sudden Jane Musker can slot in Connor Lou can slot in. And if Dylan Wade stays for another year, like all of a sudden you're looking good. You're looking fine. And all of these offensive linemen would then have experience in the system. So Jane Musker not necessarily all about 2023. I think he raises the ceiling for this team in 2023, but in 2024, which we've been told by sources close to you freeze that he is focused on 2024 as far as competing for the playoff next season. And I think Musker could be part of that. Yeah. I think that Musker would have a really good chance that they slid him over to guard to win a spot opposite Jeremiah, right? I think him and Stutz that would be a really good battle in the summer. And then you've got your offensive line really just said I would be excited about it. It's only to provide offensive tackle depth. I think Musker at could slot in to a starting guard role. Yep. All right. Apollo said might be Daryl. And that case, Burton's an Auburn lock. So there we go. There we go. All right. There's talking live chat about Keon Coleman talking to somebody very, very close to the Thorne situation over the last few days. I think in I L deals and money is a very, very big part of his recruitment to where it's it's almost going to be all about who is the highest bidder. And I don't know if that's going to be Auburn. I'm just going to be honest there. I don't know if that's going to be Auburn. That's why FSU this weekend makes a ton of sense. Yeah. I mean, you got to look at it is it's not free agency and it's not a salary cap, but there's only so much expendable dollars out there to sign kids to NIL deals. And if you go out and get them a cloud and get a quarterback like you've gotten and some of the other people that offensive tackles that were, you know, significant NIL gets, then you only got so many dollars. And so you just don't know if that fits into that structure or that NIL budget per se because it is a budget. I mean, it is what it is. You call it what you want. It's not unlimited. Some places it may be an unlimited budget unlimited spend dollars, but all will manage it a little bit differently. I don't see. I mean, I love Coleman, but you know, again, I like those other guys I mentioned too. I think any of them elevate the room and make the room better. And that's all you're looking for right now. Yeah, I think so there's more people saying that Thorne or Coleman doesn't want to play with Thorne that that narrative comes from Rob, Pete, who just said that and no one else has really been able to confirm that. So was it not Peter Josh, Pete? Rob, Pete is a former Auburn safety. My apologies. Yes. Thank you for correcting me on that. I was trying to make sure so people go out and get on Twitter and start blowing up Rob. Yeah, I know. I've worked with Rob, Pete, before he's fantastic. That's not what I'm going to say. He's a great guy. He's a great guy. I don't want people going at him a little bit, but yeah, Josh, Pete's one that said that. And you know, you can say whatever you want. And sometimes people think you speaking into existence, but I have not seen any proof of that or any other source saying that even on the Michigan State side. I'm with you. I'm with you. All right. Live chat. How many wins does Auburn get now in 2023? How fired up are we? Let's see how hard some of you guys are bugging today, which I hope it's high. I hope it's high. We will see. I'm getting attacked from one of my sources. Hold on. Okay. Nothing good. Look at that breaking news. No, it's nothing. It's nothing. Let's see seven wins. Stephen says seven. Justin says 10. Joseph says I would rather get two wide receivers with NIL money than just get Coleman. I'm with you. I'm with you on that. Because I think our room just kind of needs a little bit of a difference. It's dudes that have already got statistics. I agree. Like did we have a track record to look at? Sure. Craig in the Texas San Antonio cat. So I agree. You got two because we don't know. I mean, obviously there's no grad transfer receivers. So all the receivers are stuck in the room now. They didn't get in the portal. That's it. We have what we have. And then the Michigan State side of the AWC Coleman is publicly tweeted support in defensive form along with Reid and his all rumors. Yeah. Yeah. It is all. Or even Stables makes a great point. Says that that receiver that I was talking about his name is Jair Shorter is coming in this weekend. He's not from North Texas. That's the linebacker. All of them is looking at he's from Texas San Antonio. Oh, okay. That's the guy that you like so much. Yeah. The road runners. Yes. So thank you for that. War Eagle Stables, but he just got the at least he gave me the name. The name kept escaping me. Sure. The rule is Texas San Antonio. Is that a Hugh Freeze timing thing you think? You think that's why they do you think that's why they told him to kind of you think that's why this took so long? You think it's a timing thing? I think so. A lot of good things about him. The staff loves him. They think he's a freak. He's the guy that, you know, everyone talked about his career numbers and everything. Okay. So maybe I was wrong now. War Eagle Stables is saying that UTSA's guys names Franklin and this is another wide receiver from. The UTS. Hey guys. The name is Frank. That's correct. That's correct. All right. So we got shorter and we got Franklin and shorter's coming in this weekend. Who's also a good receiver from North Texas. I'll take it. If says 12 and O. I love it. Tanner says nine confirmed. You take like nine and three and a heartbeat, right? No, I took it four with a heart rate. I mean, I would have been with the bowl game. Yeah. A lot of eight's. A lot of eight and fours are nine and threes. A few nine to 10 wins. Joey with 11. We're booking today. I'm all about that. I'm all about that. So yeah, a lot of eight nines, which I think is, which I think is great. So and thank you War Eagle Stables for the scoop. Now I understand that he says the North Texas wide receiver is a brand new name just posted by on three. So that's good. I had not heard that is why I was getting the two confused. So thank you for that. Shout out. Shout out Cole Pinkston for sure. All right. We'll we'll go for a few more minutes here. Does anybody have any questions regarding forn? How it impacts this offense moving forward? We'll go for a few more minutes. We'll stop it right in an hour. So we got like five minutes left. Anybody else has anything TK says eight wins regular season floor hasn't changed at a bowl wind ceiling 11 and one Georgia bridge too far. Yeah, cool that cool all of that. Do you think Ron says do you think freeze beats saving twice again? I believe freeze will beat Nick Saban while he's at Auburn. Sure. I think he will. You know, obviously that depends the quantity that depends how long. Mix saving stays at Alabama as he's staying five years. He's just staying two. I don't know. Nobody really knows. So but I do believe that he has the propensity and the ability to do that. And you know, don't ever I mean, look, say what you want, but a playoff team and Alabama playoff team two years ago was one first down away from getting beat by Brian Harson and that Auburn team that was six and seven. So I mean, it's not unthinkable. Sure. If you look at that the way that with TJ Finley playing the whole game, a quarterback Tanner asked, miss the first part of the show. Do you think we lose Holden Garner? I think eventually. Yeah. Where Holden's path to playing time is anymore because now you guys assume you got to sit behind Peyton for two years. Robbie's stuck here for a hot minute, even if he is a backup. And so yeah, I think so and Holden Garner from everything I've heard really, really liked, really, really liked the previous staff. And I was told to look at him as a potential guy that could transfer back in December. And so I'm a little, I'm actually a little surprised that he's still here, but it sounds like the football team really, really likes Holden Garner. It sounds like the team is kind of rooting for him to kind of take a step forward towards the end of spring. And, you know, I don't know if he did quite enough there, but I don't see his path because I don't think Hugh Freeze is very loyal to the guys that he brings in historically. That's just what we've seen. And I think with Hank Brown, a Walker White being, you know, this class in the following class, I don't see a clear path to playing time for Holden Garner, and it stinks. It's very, very, so if I had to guess, no, I don't think Holden Garner is on this team 365 days from now. That's just my guess. Your reasons for that, or my opinion, spot on is because yeah, he'll stay this year as the number three quarterback. But when Walker White and Hank Brown, who comes this year as well, when that at the end of the day, that quarterback room is going to get very crowded, even if Ford moves on. So you had a great one year and went pro, you still got Robbie Ashford, Walker White, Hank Brown. So, Garner's going to go somewhere where he can play. Don't know if that's a power five. Don't know if that's a group of five. We'll see. But I would fully expect him not to be here this time next year either. Yeah. Let's see. Jarquez Hunter has 1500 yards this year. Tell you your scrimmage or just running from scrimmage. I'm cool with that for just rushing. I'm not cool with that. I'll go ahead and go back on the record that Zach laughed at me about one of the broadcasts we did. And I won't put it out there while people are alive. What did I do? Sean Jackson is going to get 200 yards, brother. Oh, I don't think so. Say I know. You just go. I don't think so. Two of you all. All right. I'm going through questions, guys. Going through questions. Everyone has a job until Walker is ready. I agree with that unless we get more out of Hank than some people are thinking. I totally agree with that. Holds is obviously the odd man out. Yep. I think so. I think so. All right. I think we're going to wrap it up here. Darryl, give me some final thoughts. Give me some final thoughts with some juicy some juicy takes here. Even though we knew it was coming, it still felt great. And that tells me a lot about the fact that it did not seem like anti climactic or, you know what I'm saying, we knew it was coming. We felt like it was coming. And when it finally did happen, it still felt really, really good. And I think that's incredible. And I just give Hugh Freeze all kind of credit for that. And I'm very excited. I mean, I'm not going to temper my enthusiasm. I think that this is what Auburn fans have been secretly hoping for. And when it comes to fruition, it's a great day. No question. No question about it. I think Auburn all of us. I think Auburn got two more wins today with this. And maybe not just this signing or this addition in a vacuum, but I think it's going to lead to some bigger things that may start with adding some receivers this week. I mean, I think this is huge. I think it's huge. And I also think it kind of paves the way and sets some expectations. Because look, just talking to other fan bases that are in the know and, you know, other media groups like there, there are other programs that aren't happy that Hugh Freeze is doing what he's doing. That tells you everything you need to know right there. You can know your opponents react to when you do something. And that will really tell the tale. Yep. Yep. And I think this office needed a leader. And once again, I've said this before, my issues with Robbie aren't on the field. I mean, I don't think he's at super accurate and like, you know, Peyton's not a perfect quarterback either. It's off field stuff. It's lack of leadership. And so you go out and get a guy who has led for multiple seasons, who's a little bit older. I think this is a great, great, great situation for him. I think it's a great situation for Hugh Freeze. And this is a guy that Hugh Freeze appears to have won it all along. So I think there's a lot to like about that. We're going to have plenty of written work on Peyton Thorne at AuburnDaily.com throughout the weekend to be sure to check that out. And you can find all of, you can find Daryl stuff on Twitter at dap6410. And he's also on like a million different radio stations throughout the week. So guys, thank you guys so much for hanging out with us. Please click that subscribe button. We've got a nice little surge this week with quarterback news. We'd love to keep that going. So if you're not subscribed, please, please, please subscribe. It really helps the channel out a ton. We will be back on Monday unless there's more breaking news and Daryl, I'll hop on and be live for that. So be sure to subscribe so you get those notifications for that. Until then, this has been Lockdown Auburn. A Prime Members, you can listen to this Lockdown podcast ad free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. ♪♪♪♪