There may have been a quarterback battle this fall camp, but the outcome was inevitable for most. Payton Thorne, returning for his fifth season of college football and his second at Auburn, would win the starting job, and the three guys behind him would compete for the backup job.

So, how confident is Hugh Freeze with Thorne now that they have had a season and an entire offseason together?

"Very confident sitting here today," the head coach said. "That's the same thing I've said since spring practice – ultimately, he's gotta get the job done. But I wouldn't be going with him if I wasn't confident in him."

There was a lot to be desired from Thorne last year, both from his own doing and the lack of talent around him. Freeze and his staff decided not to bring in another quarterback from the transfer portal, sticking with the Illinois native for a second season. Now working with Freeze, offensive coordinator Derrick Nix and quarterback coach Kent Austin, Thorne has developed a better understanding of what those three want and expect from their signal-caller and leader of the offense.

The time that Freeze has spent with Thorne since the end of last season has been critical in his development.

"I've always believed in him," Freeze said. "And I believe in him even more today than I did in January because of what I've seen and what I've witnessed and what I hear in the meeting rooms when I'm with him."

Hank Brown, who won the backup job, has developed into a formidable second option if Thorne was to go down or struggle. Still, he has things to learn before the option of him taking the keys to Auburn's offense becomes a reality.

"Still has a ways to go in the protections and the fixes we need him to be able to make," Freeze said of Brown. "Throws the deep ball extremely well – extremely well. He needs to be a little more accurate with some of the others."

As for what he expects from Thorne this season, Freeze expects to see a player with a bit of a chip on his shoulder.

"I think he's excited to prove that to a lot of people also," he said on Thorne's improvement.