AUBURN — Payton Thorne has shown he can do it at the collegiate level, but he's yet to show he can consistently do it with Auburn football.

Thorne joined the Tigers via the portal in May 2023 after four seasons at Michigan State, where he totaled 6,763 yards and 56 touchdowns over 29 appearances. He led the Spartans to a 16-10 record in 26 starts, including an 11-2 mark in 2021 that featured a win over Pitt in the Peach Bowl.

The 2021 campaign was Thorne's most prolific, as he ended with career-high numbers in passing yards (3,232), passing touchdowns (27), rushing touchdowns (4), yards per attempt (8.6) and passing efficiency rating (148.1). He was the Big 10's No. 4 passer that season behind CJ Stroud (Ohio State), Taulia Tagovailoa (Maryland) and Aidan O'Connell (Purdue).

Stroud and O'Connell are in the NFL with the Houston Texans and Las Vegas Raiders, respectively, and Tagovailoa participated in rookie minicamp with the Seattle Seahawks this offseason before signing with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League.

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Whether it was due to a lack of capability, a failure from the coaching staff or a discrepancy in talent – perhaps a mix of the three – the version of Thorne who put up numbers similar to future NFL quarterbacks was not on the Plains last season.

Auburn's passing attack was futile in 2023. The Tigers threw for more than 200 yards against an SEC team just once (Missisippi State), and it was below 150 yards on four occasions (Texas A&M, Georgia, Ole Miss and Alabama).

The 162.2 passing yards per game on the season ranked last in the SEC, nearly 20 yards behind the closest team.

Thorne will be the first to admit 2023 did not go as planned. He arrived at Auburn with two seasons of eligibility, and he hoped to give himself something to think about regarding the 2024 NFL Draft. That wasn't the case, and he's now back with the Tigers.

Auburn coach Hugh Freeze talked about the QB competition throughout the spring − Holden Geriner and Hank Brown are in the mix, Freeze says, and true freshman Walker White has his flashes − but it was clear when watching practice Thorne had a stranglehold on the starting role.

Things must be better in 2024 for Thorne to remain the starter for the entire season. That's clear. But what exactly needs to be different, and what are fair expectations for the former Spartan?

First and foremost, the offense cannot be so one dimensional. The Tigers logged a passing attempt on 38.2% of their plays last season, the lowest ratio for a Freeze team in his 11 seasons as an FBS coach. Thorne must prove reliant enough on a down-to-down basis for the staff to put the ball in his hands.

It's not all on Thorne, though. The weapons around him let him down often in 2023. Thorne's adjusted completion percentage, a stat from Pro Football Focus that accounts for drops and passes thrown away, of 70.2% was right in line with what he did in 2021 (70.3%).

Another reasonable expectation is for Thorne to handle pass rushers better. Thorne was pressured on 90 dropbacks last season, and he was sacked on 35.6% of those plays. That was the worst pressure-to-sack ratio in the SEC, showing he needed to do a better job at either evading his foes or knowing when to get the ball out.

In short: Expectations for Thorne in 2024 should include better composure, which should be helped by the increased talent around him, especially at receiver. Freshmen such as five-star recruit Cam Coleman and transfers such as KeAndre Lambert-Smith, Penn State's leading receiver in 2023, join the fold.

With a more composed demeanor, the staff should be more confident in Thorne, in turn making the passing game better. The stats will improve if that's the case, but a competent offense that doesn't rely on the run so much should be the priority.

A lot of the responsibility is on Thorne's shoulders, but the coaches must also improve − changing offensive coordinators should help − to put him in the best position possible.

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football: Payton Thorne's realistic expectations in Year 2