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Observations from practice No. 11: Payton Thorne’s official first reps as the starter

Updated: Aug. 17, 2023, 11:35 p.m.|Published: Aug. 17, 2023, 7:09 p.m.

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After making the biggest announcement of fall camp — tabbing Payton Thorne as Auburn’s starter — head coach Hugh Freeze allowed media members to stay on the field for the final hour-and-a-half of practice.

It was by far the longest media viewing period of the fall, and the first time reporters have seen the quarterbacks throw the ball with a live defense during camp.

So that led to a significant number of notebook pages full of observations, depth charts and quirky things as Auburn draws closer to its second scrimmage and the regular season.

Below are five key notes from Auburn’s 11th practice.

Auburn, Payton Thorne end the quarterback rotation

This wasn’t news by the time Auburn took the practice field. Hugh Freeze officially announced Payton Thorne as Auburn’s starting quarterback during his Thursday press conference.

It finally puts to end two weeks of quarterback battle and rotation to leave Thorne has the solidified top guy. As expected, Robby Ashford took reps with the second-team offensive line and broke off a number of big runs during practice, showing the role he can still have in this offense if he accepts it.

Thorne had a number of effective scrambles, too. Though those were often times a product of the offensive line. More on that below.

His passing catchers shuffled as has been the case

And then there was Rivaldo Fairweather...

Rivaldo Fairweather is going to be a weapon

Well, then.

It was one practice, sure, but in this wider window of media viewing, no star shined brighter than Auburn’s transfer tight end from FIU.

Add this chance to see Fairweather play against a defense and he showed to be an absolute mismatch for Auburn’s cornerbacks.

Early on when practicing one-on-one drills, Fairweather ran a deep corner route toward the right side of the endzone, and made a spinning, one-handed catch while falling out of bounds on a pass that was behind him.

It was the type of catch a wide receiver makes, not usually a tight end.

Fairweather projects to be a big-time mismatch come the regular season. He’s 6-foot-4, 251 pounds. And he can run. There aren’t many cornerbacks or safeties big enough to cover him or linebackers fast enough.

Fairweather was a favorite target of Thorne’s. He looked like a reliable, strong, big target in the middle of the field who clearly has the athleticism to make bigger plays down the field, too.

The only one who seemed able to stop him was safety Jaylin Simpson.

When the offense got down to the goal line in a two minutes drill, Thorne was looking for his tight end to get the final yard into the endzone.

Fairweather came over the middle with tight coverage from Simpson. When the pass came, Simpson had to leap over Fairweather to even have a play on the ball against the bigger player. But he made the play, batting the ball away.

Fairweather asked for a flag for pass interference, and frankly, he may have gotten one in the game. But the call could have gone either way.

Regardless, for all the talk about wide receivers, Auburn’s biggest weapon may literally be its biggest weapon.

A new look on the offensive line

Throughout the first drills media members saw, the offensive line was the same as in previous practices. More on that below with the depth chart.

Later in practice, when there was a two-minute drill scrimmage, the offensive line changed its look.

Instead of Gunner Britton as the right tackle, as he has always been so far in practice, he moved inside to left guard. Izavion Miller, who had been the second-team right tackle, started on the first-team group in that spot. And instead of the left guard battle between Jeremiah Wright and Tate Johnson, Wright started with the second team at left guard and Johnson across from him at right guard.

Now in that drill, the different look on the offensive line struggled. Elijah McAllister was a force against that group, blowing up the pocket multiple time times. The interior of that offensive line — including Britton who is use to playing tackle — was beaten frequently by Jayson Jones and Marcus Harris.

It’s not exactly clear why Aubrun tried this different unit. There hasn’t been much conversation about swinging Britton inside during fall camp. It’s possible Auburn was experimenting if it doesn’t feel comfortable with its left-guard competition and wants to have Miller on the first team.

It’s likely something that will come up in future media availabilities.

Checking in on the depth chart

Offensive starters

QB: Payton Thorne

RB: Jarquez Hunter

LT: Dillon Wade

LG: Kam Stutts

😄 Avery Jones

RG: Jeremiah Wright

RT: Gunner Britton

TE: Rivaldo Fairweather

WR: Omari Kelly, Jay Fair, Shane Hooks

Defensive starters

DL: Jayson Jones, Marcus Harris

DE: Mosiah Nasili-Kite

Jack LB: Elijah McAllister

Middle LB: Larry Nixon III, Eugene Asante

CB: Nehemiah Pritchett, D.J. James, Keionte Scott

S: Jaylin Simpson, Zion Puckett

Though as has been the case throughout the preseason, the initial starters when reporters first were taken to the practice field had some rotation. Wide receivers Nick Mardner, Ja’Varrius Johnson, Jyaire Shorter and Camden Brown all worked in with the first team, too. So did tight end Luke Deal in certain packages.

The jack linebacker spot rotated with McAllister and Stephen Sings V and at some points, both were on the field together. There was one package during drills that featured McAllister, Sings and Nosili-Kite all at the same time.

The middle linebacker spot also saw rotation with Eugene Asante and Cam Riley. Nixon started in the spot presumably that would be filled by Austin Keys when healthy.

As Freeze said during his press conference, outside of quarterback he has enough rotation where he doesn’t necessarily view it as first, second and third teams.

Others who saw time on the second-team defense without much rotation into the first team include Justin Rogers and Lawrence Johnson on the interior defensive line. Brenton Williams played as the defensive end. Kayin Lee, Sylvester Smith, Colton Hood, Donovan Kaufman and Marquise Gilbert all saw action in the second secondary group.

The second team’s offensive line had left tackle Jaden Muskrat, left guard Tate Johnson, center Connor Lew, right guard Jalil Irvin and right tackle Izavion Miller. Damari Alston was largely the second-team running back with Robby Ashford as the quarterback. Luke Deal primarily was the second-team tight end.

Injury report

Injuries have certainly had an impact on that depth chart.

Austin Keys (shoulder) was still in a yellow injury uniform and did not practice. Linebacker Wesley Steiner (shoulder) was no longer in the yellow jersey.

Defensive end Keldric Faulk was in the yellow uniform, too. This was the first time he had been seen not practicing, and there was no indication on what held him out.

Wide receiver Malcolm Johnson Jr. (shoulder) also did not practice, still wearing the yellow jersey, too. Same goes for Koy Moore (ankle).

Camden Brown did practice again, as Freeze discussed in his press conference. So did Ja’Varrius Johnson who was dealing with pain from stitches in his mouth.

The most notable absence was jack linebacker Jalen McLeod. Soon after reporters came on the field partway through practice, McLeod ran onto the field with a trainer and a wrapped right ankle. He was not wearing a yellow jersey, but he did not participate in the final 90 minutes of practice.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com

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