Payton Thorne (born June 26, 2001) is an American football quarterback for the Auburn Tigers. Thorne played for the Michigan State Spartans from 2019 to 2022.
Auburn Tigers – No. 1 | |
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Position | Quarterback |
Class | Junior |
Major | Communication |
Personal information | |
Born: | Naperville, Illinois, U.S. | June 26, 2001
Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
Weight | 210 lb (95 kg) |
Career history | |
College |
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Bowl games | |
High school | Naperville Central (Naperville, Illinois) |
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High school career
Thorne originally attended Metea Valley High School in Aurora, Illinois before transferring to Naperville Central High School in Naperville, Illinois. As a senior in 2018, he was named the Chicago Sun-Times and Naperville Sun Player of the Year after throwing for 3,113 yards and 40 touchdowns.[1][2] Thorne originally committed to Western Michigan University to play college football but later switched to Michigan State University.[3][4]
College career
Thorne was redshirted his first year at Michigan State in 2019.[5]
In 2020, he played in four games as a backup to Rocky Lombardi and made one start. In his first career start against Penn State he passed for 325 yards and three touchdowns.[6][7] For the season, he completed 48 of 85 passes for 582 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions.
In 2021, Thorne was named the Spartans starter to open the season.[8][9] In his first full year as a starter, Thorne threw for 3,240 yards, 27 TDs, 10 INTs, with a 77.7 QBR.[10]
In 2022, he was a 12 game starter with 2,679 yards passing, 19 touchdown passes and one rushing TD.[11]
In the 2023 offseason, Thorne transferred to Auburn to play under newly acquired head coach Hugh Freeze.
Statistics
Season | Games | Passing | Rushing | |||||||||||||
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GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Avg | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | ||
Michigan State Spartans | ||||||||||||||||
2019 | Redshirt | |||||||||||||||
2020 | 4 | 1 | 0–1 | 48 | 85 | 56.5 | 582 | 6.8 | 3 | 3 | 118.6 | 25 | 47 | 1.9 | 1 | |
2021 | 13 | 13 | 11–2 | 235 | 389 | 60.4 | 3,232 | 8.3 | 27 | 10 | 148.0 | 82 | 181 | 2.2 | 4 | |
2022 | 12 | 12 | 5–7 | 242 | 387 | 62.5 | 2,679 | 6.9 | 19 | 11 | 131.2 | 60 | 42 | 0.7 | 1 | |
Auburn Tigers | ||||||||||||||||
2023 | 13 | 12 | 6–7 | 162 | 265 | 61.1 | 1,755 | 7.0 | 16 | 10 | 129.1 | 134 | 515 | 3.8 | 3 | |
Career | 42 | 38 | 22−17 | 687 | 1126 | 61.0 | 8,256 | 7.3 | 65 | 34 | 135.6 | 302 | 800 | 2.6 | 9 |
Personal life
Thorne is a Christian.[12] Thorne's father, Jeff Thorne, was the offensive coordinator at Western Michigan in 2022.[13]