AUBURN | Payton Thorne insisted Tuesday that his injured shoulder had healed enough for him to start for Auburn Saturday.

But Hugh Freeze saw it differently on the practice field later that day.

“Not as far along as I’d hoped with the shoulder,” said Freeze during Wednesday’s SEC teleconference. “He thinks he’s going to be fine but he was not ready to play yesterday, for sure.”

Thorne rested his shoulder during last week’s bye giving Hank Brown more opportunities with the first-team offense.

Freeze indicated earlier in the week that he hadn’t settled on a starting quarterback for Saturday’s game against ULM.

“We'll see how this week goes with that (injury), and with the others getting reps -- and go from there,” said Freeze during his Monday press conference.

Thorne, a senior was benched for Brown earlier this season.

Brown started against New Mexico, throwing four touchdowns, but the redshirt freshman was replaced by Thorne the following week after throwing three interceptions in the first half of a loss to Arkansas.

Thorne, who has started seven games this season, has completed 62.9 percent of his passes for 1,825 yards with 13 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Auburn hosts ULM Saturday at 11:45 a.m. CT on SEC Network.