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5/1/23 Football Articles


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Auburn WR Landen King enters portal for second time

Published: Apr. 30, 2023, 12:52 p.m.
2–3 minutes

Auburn wide receiver Landen King sent a message via Twitter on Sunday to confirm that he’s entering the transfer portal for the second time.

King came to the Plains as a member 2021 signing class. The 6-foot-5, 209-pound converted tight end is the ninth player to enter the portal since the start of spring football under new head coach Hugh Freeze. He entered the portal in November, toward the end of former head coach Bryan Harsin’s tenure, and returned to Auburn for spring after Freeze got hired.

King scored one touchdown and played in 11 games over two seasons with 83 yards on six receptions. The Tigers signed 18 players in the 2021 class under Harsin, and four players remain with King seeking other opportunities.

“I am officially in the transfer portal with 3 years of eligibility remaining!” King said via Twitter. “Thank you, Auburn, for everything!”

Safety Ahmari Harvey (Georgia Tech), quarterback Dematrius Davis (Alabama State), wide receiver Tar’Varish Dawson Jr. (Cincinnati), wide receiver Hal Presley (Baylor), defensive end Tobechi Okoli, and defensive lineman Marquis Robinson are some of the players who’ve departed Auburn over the last two seasons.

Defensive end Jeffrey M’ba (Purdue), safety Craig McDonald, linebacker Powell Gordon, Okoli, edge rusher Dylan Brooks, Kameron Brown (UT-Chattanooga), Desmond Tisdol (Florida Atlantic), and Dawson are the other players to enter the portal from Auburn since the window opened that closes on Sunday evening.

Nubyjas Wilborn covers Auburn for Alabama Media Group.

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si.com
 

Nebraska QB transfer Casey Thompson sets visit with Auburn football

Lance Dawe
~2 minutes

Casey Thompson, a transfer quarterback from Nebraska, has set a visit with Auburn, per Auburn Live.

In 2022, Thompson threw for 2,407 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. His completion percentage was 63.1%.

He will transfer as a graduate and will be able to play right away wherever he decides to go.

According to a source, there are six schools that Thompson is interested in as his final destination during his college career. The source then added that Auburn is in the top three.

The Tigers have now had six players depart from the program within the last couple of weeks, including three backup linebackers:

Wide Receiver Tar'Varish Dawson

Defensive lineman Jeffrey M'ba

Defensive lineman Tobechi Okoli

Linebacker Kameron Brown

Linebacker Desmond Tisdol

Linebacker Powell Gordon

Auburn has pulled in an impressive haul thus far during Hugh Freeze's first season on the Plains, currently sitting at No. 3 nationally in 247Sports' transfer portal class rankings.

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Transfer target Isaac Ukwu visiting Auburn

JD McCarthy
~2 minutes

Auburn is looking to land its first transfer of the spring window and one of the top players available is visiting. Former JMU edge rusher Isaac Ukwu has arrived on the Plains, he announced.

The graduate transfer entered the portal on Tuesday and already has over 10 offers. The 6-foot-3, 260-pound has had a winding journey since signing with JMU in 2017. He appeared in three games in 2018, missed the next two seasons with injury, and broke out in 2021 and 2022.

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He racked up 83 tackles, 27.0 tackles for loss, 16.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery over the past two seasons.

RELATED: Live updates of Auburn Tigers in the portal

The Tigers are recruiting him at the jack linebacker spot, where they have just four scholarship players. They added Vanderbilt transfer Elijah McAllister in the earlier portal window but he is backed up by an inexperienced and unproven trio of Dylan Brooks, Keldric Faulk, and Brenton Williams.

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion

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si.com
 

Michigan State QB Payton Thorne has entered the transfer portal

Lance Dawe
~2 minutes

A big time quarterback has hit the transfer portal.

Payton Thorne, a two-year starter at Michigan State, has entered the transfer portal, per On3. Thorne, a three-star quarterback in the 2019 class, has led the charge for the Spartans for the past two years.

In 2021, Thorne completed 60.4% of his passes for 3,232 yards and 27 touchdowns. He has 49 total passing touchdowns to 24 interceptions over the course of 29 games at Sparty. He has two seasons of college eligibility remaining.

The Tigers have had nine players depart from the program within the last few weeks, including three backup linebackers:

Wide receiver Tar'Varish Dawson

Wide receiver Landen King

Offensive lineman Colby Smith

Defensive lineman Jeffrey M'ba

Defensive lineman Tobechi Okoli

Defensive end Dylan Brooks

Linebacker Kameron Brown

Linebacker Desmond Tisdol

Linebacker Powell Gordon

Auburn has pulled in an impressive haul thus far during Hugh Freeze's first season on the Plains, currently sitting at No. 3 nationally in 247Sports' transfer portal class rankings.

You can check out our transfer portal tracker here. Stay up to date on all of the Tigers' commitments, departures, and prospects for key positions at auburndaily.com.


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Analyst sends brutal message on 2021 Auburn football recruiting class

Andrew Hughes
2–3 minutes

On3's Justin Hokanson sent a strong, but extremely harrowing, message about the Auburn football recruiting Class of 2021 Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

On3's Justin Hokanson sent a strong, but extremely harrowing, message about the Auburn football recruiting Class of 2021 Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

 

On3’s Justin Hokanson had nothing nice to say about the Auburn football recruiting Class of 2021 — one that was between the Gus Malzahn and Bryan Harsin eras, with a COVID-19 pandemic changing the way procedures took place on the recruiting trail.

“There’s lost signing classes, and there’s however one would describe Auburn football‘s 2021 signing class,” Hokanson prefaced before sharing, “Only five of the 22 combined high school and transfer portal signees from the class are on campus just two years later.”

As Hokanson would later reveal, the Auburn recruiting Class of 2021 has become barebones in every sense. Of those remaining from both the high school and transfer classes, three are expected to have roles in 2023.

“Jarquez Hunter, Garner Langlo and Cayden Bridges are the only prospects remaining from Auburn’s high school signing class that consisted of 19 players,” Hokanson wrote. “LSU transfer T.J. Finley and Vanderbilt transfer Donovan Kaufman are the only two remaining transfer portal players from the class.”

Auburn football Class of 2021 QB could leave after underwhelming showing on the Plains

Finley, a transfer from Ed Orgeron’s penultimate LSU squad in 2020, could leave Auburn football upon graduation from AU in order to take to the transfer portal once more. If he does, he’ll have had an underwhelming showing having been tabbed as QB1 competition for Bo Nix ahead of the 2021 season.

“Finley may transfer following his graduation in June,” Hokanson wrote. “If so, Finley will depart with wins over only Mercer and San Jose State as a starting quarterback. And if Finley does transfer, that’ll be 18 of 22 signees gone within two years and after producing very little, if anything of substance.”

Following a less-than-stellar A-Day performance in which Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze criticized Finley in live time, the Ponchatoula native seems destined to find a third college football home in the next few months.

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flywareagle.com
 

Career of recently drafted Auburn RB ‘far from smooth’

Andrew Hughes
~3 minutes

Jaguars Wire's Adam Stites called the collegiate career of recently-drafted Auburn football running back Tank Bigsby

Jaguars Wire's Adam Stites called the collegiate career of recently-drafted Auburn football running back Tank Bigsby "far from smooth" (Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images)

 

Recently-drafted Auburn football running back Tank Bigsby, who was taken with the No. 88 overall selection in the third round of the NFL draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars, had a collegiate career on the Plains that was “far from smooth” — this, at least, according to Jaguars Wire’s Adam Stites.

The reason? A brutal transition from Gus Malzahn to Bryan Harsin during the COVID-19 pandemic that limited Bigsby until Cadillac Williams, the coach who recruited No. 4 to the Plains, elevated his stock with more unpredictable schemes for defenses to contend with to mask the Tigers’ subpar offensive line. Stites highlighted Bigsby’s flirtation with the transfer portal following the 2021 season in his bearish assessment of the road Bigsby had to go down in Auburn.

“The collegiate career of Bigsby was far from smooth,” Stites wrote. “After joining Auburn when Gus Malzahn was head coach, the running back opted to stay when the team fired Malzahn and hired Bryan Harsin at the end of the 2020 season. Then when several coaches and players left the program after the 2021 season — including starting quarterback Bo Nix — Bigsby entered the transfer portal. Eventually, he changed his mind and finished his college career where he started.”

Former Auburn football RB Tank Bigsby landing with Jacksonville Jaguars a shocker

As Stites pointed out, Bigsby had no prior visits with the Jaguars — making the decision by Jacksonville to draft the former Auburn football RB1 a shocker considering that other NFL teams had him on their radar.

“Like Brenton Strange earlier on Friday, Bigsby was pretty shocked that it was the Jaguars who decided to pick him,” Stites wrote. “While Bigsby said he spoke to the Jaguars at the combine and at his pro day, it was radio silent in the weeks leading up to the draft. Other NFL teams like the Denver Broncos and Arizona Cardinals brought Bigsby in for a visit, but the Jaguars steered clear.”

Bigsby landed in a state bordering Alabama on a team that just had one of the all-time NFL postseason comebacks. All things considered, the road should be easier for Bigsby behind a formidable Jaguars offensive line.

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Auburn football WR signed by AFC North champions adds ‘stunning’ athleticism

Andrew Hughes
2–3 minutes

Former Auburn football wideout Shedrick Jackson, who was signed by the AFC North champion Cincinnati Bengals, could be 'stunning' in their WR room Mandatory Credit: The Montgomery Advertiser

Former Auburn football wideout Shedrick Jackson, who was signed by the AFC North champion Cincinnati Bengals, could be 'stunning' in their WR room Mandatory Credit: The Montgomery Advertiser

 

Former Auburn football wideout Shedrick Jackson, who was recently signed by the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent, could add “stunning” athleticism to the defending AFC North champions should he make the team — this, at least, according to Bengals Wire’s Chris Roling.

“The Cincinnati Bengals spent much of the 2023 NFL draft adding stunning athletes at key positions such as wide receiver,” Roling prefaced before saying, “Then the personnel department did it some more in undrafted free agency. The Bengals agreed to sign Auburn wideout Shedrick Jackson, per AL.com, a 6’2″ wideout with some of the best athletic testing numbers in the draft, including a 4.31-second time in the 40-yard dash.”

Roling believes Jackson will contribute to a competition in Cincinnati that will be an “all-out fight on the back end of the depth chart.”

“There’s about to be an all-out fight on the back end of the depth chart after the Bengals added Charlie Jones and Andrei Iosivas in the draft to a depth chart that also has Stanley Morgran, Trent Taylor, Trenton Irwin and Kawmie Lassiter behind the big three,” Roling wrote.

Former Auburn football wideout Shedrick Jackson faces uphill climb to make Cincinnati Bengals

It’s possible that Jackson makes his NFL debut for a different team, with Cincy Jungle’s Patrick Judis calling Jackson’s (and Houston TE Christian Trahan’s) road to make the Bengals an uphill climb.

“Both of these players have uphill battles to make the final roster, but they will have a great chance to compete to find their way onto a practice squad with some great position coaches and or talent around them to help develop them into roster-worthy players either in Cincinnati or somewhere else in the NFL,” Judis wrote.

The nephew of Auburn football legend Bo Jackson, Shedrick has the chance to play with one of the all-time SEC QB greats, Joe Burrow, should he make Cincinnati’s roster.

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Auburn Football

Auburn reserve offensive lineman is 10th player to enter transfer portal

Published: Apr. 30, 2023, 7:05 p.m.

Colby Smith (right) holds a blocking pad during a drill with Brenden Coffey (55) during the first day of spring practice on Monday, March 14, 2022 in Auburn, Ala. (Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics)Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics

NEW!

By

Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

As the post-spring transfer portal deadline approached Sunday, a 10th Auburn player opted to depart the program.

Colby Smith, a reserve offensive lineman who signed with Auburn’s 2021 class, entered the transfer portal on Sunday, according to multiple reports. He was one of two Tigers to hit the portal on the final day of the transfer window, joining tight end-turned-wide receiver Landen King.

Read more Auburn football: Where did undrafted Auburn players sign as free agents after 2023 NFL Draft?

Auburn still in search of “no-brainer” quarterback target in transfer portal

Auburn’s recruiting under Hugh Freeze is “100 to 1″ change from previous coaching staff

A 6-foot-8, 340-pounder out of Reidsville, N.C., Smith was a three-star offensive tackle prospect who signed with Auburn two years ago. He redshirted during his first season on the Plains while not seeing the field in any of the Tigers’ games, and he made his first career appearance during the team’s penultimate game last fall, making his debut in Auburn’s win against Western Kentucky.

Smith spent his first two seasons with Auburn working at offensive tackle but shifted inside to guard this spring. He was working as the third-team left guard during the final week of spring and found himself down the depth chart of Auburn’s retooled offensive line.

Smith is the 15th member of Auburn’s 18-deep 2021 signing class to leave the program in the last two years. Each of Auburn’s top-10 signees from that class are now gone: edge rusher Dylan Brooks (who hit the portal Saturday), defensive tackle Lee Hunter (UCF), safety Ahmari Harvey (Georgia Tech), quarterback Dematrius Davis (Alabama State), wide receiver Tar’Varish Dawson Jr. (Cincinnati), defensive lineman Marquis Robinson, wide receiver Hal Presley (Baylor), defensive end Tobechi Okoli, King and Smith.

The other Auburn players to enter the portal since the start of spring practice are linebackers Kameron Brown, Desmond Tisdol and Powell Gordon, defensive ends Jeffrey M’ba and Okoli, wide receivers Dawson and King, edge rusher Brooks and safety Craig McDonald.

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

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on3.com
 

Auburn football transfer portal tracker: Running list of transfers in and out, real-time thoughts

Justin Hokanson
7–8 minutes

AUBURN — The spring transfer portal window is open from April 15-30. Auburn Live expects a number of current football players to enter into the portal following the completion of spring camp. The Tigers also plan to add another quality haul of transfers coming into the program in the next two weeks.

Bookmark this page as we’ll link relevant stories, provide thoughts and track Auburn’s transfer situation during this spring window.

RELATED

Spring transfers out

Landen King

Colby Smith

Dylan Brooks

Craig McDonald

Tobechi Okoli

Powell Gordon

Tar’Varish Dawson

Jeffrey M’Ba

Kameron Brown

Desmond Tisdol

Running thoughts on Auburn’s spring transfers out

— Smith didn’t play in two years and will find a new home elsewhere. Smith was competing for playing time at a backup position this spring and clearly got the signal that more playing time would likely be found elsewhere.

— King’s entry into the portal seemed like just a matter of time. Sources do tell Auburn Live that as of just over one week ago, King wasn’t planning on transferring, but he changed his mind within the last week. The former tight end moved to receiver never really found his footing at the position. King entered the portal in the past, but removed his name and remained at Auburn.

— The Brooks news was disappointing only because Brooks was Auburn’s highest rated player in the 2021 class and at the time, a crown jewel of Bryan Harsin’s first full class. However, Brooks never developed to get anywhere close to his potential, and exiting spring, hadn’t made up any more ground on earning more playing time at the edge/jack position. In fact, Auburn’s targeting of jack players in the transfer portal speaks volumes, and certainly impacted Brooks’ decision to transfer.

— Like the Okoli news, the news of McDonald leaving isn’t all that surprising. McDonald has already transferred once, so unless he receives a waiver by the NCAA, he’ll have to sit out one year. But with the prospects of playing at Auburn slim, McDonald decided that was his best option. Auburn needs more depth at safety and cornerback. Two freshmen will arrive this summer.

— The news of Okoli entering the draft, respectfully, is likely of little concern to Auburn’s coaching staff. Okoli played in one game during his freshman season in 2021 and didn’t play in 2022. He committed in August of 2020 and remained a part of Bryan Harsin’s first class in 2021.

— The decision for Gordon to leave the program isn’t a shocker. He was a Bryan Harsin recruit, a local kid, and his addition made sense at the time, both adding a player for depth and adding a local player to make inroads. Gordon told Auburn Live he’s leaving the door open for a return to the program, although that seems unlikely. Gordon hasn’t found his true position yet, bouncing between linebacker and jack, remaining undersized for either position exiting the spring.

— Dawson, like M’Ba, had thought about entering the portal in the past. Following a spring where he wasn’t able to make a push into the starting rotation, Dawson entering the portal wasn’t a shocker. Auburn has Ja’Varrius Johnson and Jay Fair in the slot, both players who Hugh Freeze singled out for consistent spring efforts.

— M’Ba thought about entering the portal after last season, but stayed. He seemed to be happy about how things were going and his position change to defensive end when he spoke to the media during spring camp. Then again, M’Ba is a generally happy person. M’Ba was poised to play significant snaps this fall and provided important depth to the defensive line.

— Tisdol and Brown both announced their departures in the middle of spring camp. Neither contributed much and don’t really impact Auburn’s roster in a meaningful way.

How many transfers might Auburn target this spring?

Auburn is looking at 6-8 spring transfer portal additions, plus or minus some on either side. Of course, this number is fluid based on two things: Auburn actually finding the right fits at the right positions (meaning not taking a player just to take a player), and current players leaving the program matching up with what Hugh Freeze and Co. expect.

Quarterback, safety, cornerback, jack/defensive end/rush end, and a “few” offensive linemen are all positions Freeze has specifically mentioned as positions of need during the spring window.

Spring transfers in

Players and links will be provided as Auburn adds players in the spring transfer window.

Running thoughts on Auburn’s spring transfers in

Thoughts will be provided as Auburn adds players in the spring transfer window.

Transfer portal background information

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.

The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.

Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.

The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.

A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.

The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.

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Auburn offers veteran linebacker transfer Larry Nixon III

JD McCarthy
~2 minutes

8e1c1beddbaddfc48bfc4578f9f7ac8d

The Auburn Tigers are continuing to try and upgrade their roster through the transfer portal and a new target has emerged at linebacker. The Tigers extended an offer to former North Texas linebacker Larry Nixon III Saturday, he announced the news on Twitter.

Nixon III spent the past five seasons with the Mean Green and is a graduate transfer with one season of eligibility remaining. Auburn’s offer was the first he reported after entering the portal earlier Saturday afternoon.

RELATED: Live updates of Auburn Tigers in the portal

He redshirted in 2018 and improved each season before breaking out in 2022. The 6-foot-2, 236-pounder made 105 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and one sack in 14 games last season. His efforts were good enough to be named first-team All-Conference USA.

Nixon III finished his career at North Texas with 246 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, and two forced fumbles.

The Tigers added two transfers in the first window in Austin Keys (Ole Miss) and DeMario Tolan (LSU) but are working to add to a room that saw reserve linebackers Desmond Tisdol, Powell Gordon, and Kameron Brown enter the transfer portal during the spring window.

More Football!

Jack linebacker Dylan Brooks has reportedly entered the transfer portal

Arizona Cardinals select Owen Pappoe in round five

Nebraska QB Casey Thompson expected to visit Auburn on Sunday

Former Colorado WR Montana Lemonious-Craig visiting Auburn this weekend

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion

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Hugh Freeze reveals where Auburn's offense has improved the most

Sam Gillenwater•about 15 hours

Photo by Auburn Athletics

Offense was often hard to come by over the last three seasons of Auburn football. Still, while Hugh Freeze was brought in to make improvements on that side of the ball, he says that unit still has a long way to go to get where it should be.

Freeze commented on the Tiger’s offense during a press conference back during their spring period. He said that there were some days where the offense got dominated while there were other days where they did the dominating. With nothing to officially lean on yet, he just says more work must be done to see which side actually has the upper hand and, in turn, which one has more work to do.

“I don’t have the luxury of leaving the practice field feeling good either way,” Freeze admitted. “I thought, two Fridays ago, we stunk on offense. And I hope we’re really good on defense. And then I left practice thinking we stink on defense. But maybe we’re pretty good on offense.”

“The truth is probably somewhere in the middle,” said Freeze. “(But) we’re nowhere where we need to be on either side yet.”

Auburn has not posted a Top-50 offense over the last three campaigns. That includes finishes of 90th in 2020 (25.1 ppg.), 68th in 2021 (28.3), and 87th in 2022 (24.8). Last season’s average was their worst mark since 2008 and put them at 11th in the SEC.

Comparatively, Liberty was better on offense during that stretch under Freeze. In his four seasons with the program, the Flames finished 34th in 2019 (32.8 ppg.), 16th in 2020 (38.2), 25th in 2021 (33.6), and 71st last season (27.5).

Freeze has his hands full in getting Auburn back to what many expect them to be, regardless of which side of the ball gets going first. However, finding a way to translate his offense and put some more points on the board will go a long way in making his first year on The Plains a success.

Freeze admits second transfer window has moved slower than expected

For first-year coaches this is an important time of year, the 15-day, second transfer window when college football players are able to enter the NCAA transfer portal to seek a one-time move without having to sit out. It’s a chance to shore up your roster.

For Auburn‘s Hugh Freeze, activity this spring has been a little slower.

“It really has. We really weren’t sure what to expect and I do think it’s been quite a bit slower,” Freeze said. “I’m not sure that’s a bad thing, and of course we have the SEC agreement that we don’t go SEC to SEC this portal. So I haven’t really kept up with the number of kids that that would have been of interest for us.

“But outside of that it’s been quite a bit slower than what we probably anticipated. Feel like it picked up a little bit today, maybe, last couple days. Be curious to see what the rest of the week brings. I think it’s well documented that we’re always trying to improve our roster, so we’re constantly monitoring it.”

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6’2” and 232 is quite large for a LB. In the SEC, at that size, you have to be unbelievably fast. Or you have to have Josh Bynes type of ESP. 
I hope he has at least one.

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Auburn listed among top destinations for Michigan State QB Payton Thorne

Taylor Jones
2–3 minutes

02bee57df27919d7b821293210daa9bf

The spring window of the transfer portal has now come to a close, which means that it is time for head coaches everywhere to pull out all the stops in an effort to upgrade their roster for the upcoming season.

That includes Auburn’s Hugh Freeze.

The transfer portal selection for quarterbacks has been thin so far, but two late entries into the portal could make things interesting over the next few weeks, especially when it comes to Nebraska‘s Casey Thompson and Michigan State‘s Payton Thorne.

Thompson was reportedly on campus for a visit last weekend, but with Thorne’s 11th-hour entry, Freeze may take time to evaluate the best option.

As the window closes, Mike Farrell Sports has examined Thorne’s options and has come up with a list of the five best possible destinations.  Included in writer Mike Huesmann’s list was Auburn.

I expected Hugh Freeze and the new-look Tigers to get a big-name QB through the portal in the winter but that didn’t happen. Will it happen now? I don’t know but if I had to pick between bringing in another QB via the portal or throwing all my money on Robby Ashford, I’d bet the house on another guy coming in.

In three seasons at Michigan State, Thorne has passed for 6,493 yards and 49 touchdowns. He has also accumulated 270 yards rushing on 167 attempts. As a high school recruit, Thorne was a three-star dual-threat quarterback out of the Chicago suburb of Naperville, Illinois. He was the No. 26 dual-threat quarterback of the 2019 class and was the No. 20 prospect from the state of Illinois. Several notable quarterbacks from the class include former Tiger Bo Nix, LSU‘s Jayden Daniels, and TCU’s Max Duggan.

Other possible destinations for Thorne according to Mike Farrell Sports include Illinois, Virginia, Oklahoma State, and Minnesota.

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Taylor on Twitter @TaylorJones__

More Transfer Portal!

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