Hugh Freeze earned a 59-14 victory in his head coaching debut at Auburn in Week 1. The magnitude of the win gave Freeze a chance to utilize 3 quarterbacks and he was pleased with the performances by all of them.

This was Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne’s first appearance as Auburn’s starting quarterback, as he finished with 141 yards and a touchdown. Freeze explains why Thorne is the right fit for Auburn at the moment.

“Payton continues to show that he has a great understanding of things, he has great leadership qualities, can move well enough with his legs and obviously I think he’s a bit more accurate in his decisions and his passing than the others,” Freeze said.

Freshman Holden Geriner completed both of his passes for 59 yards. Freeze sees a ton of potential in the Savannah, Georgia native.

“I like all 3 of them, they all have different strengths, and I thought Holden came in and even though we didn’t throw it much because of the score, he was very, very accurate when he did throw it and I’ve said all along, he might be the most natural passer we have,” Freeze said.

Meanwhile, sophomore Robby Ashford went 2-for-6 with 3 yards. Yet the box score isn’t indicative of dynamic ability of Ashford.

“Then Robby is like I’ve said is one of the most talented athletes that I’ve ever coached, and he has to be a part of the plan week in, week out, because he’s just different and they all seem to be handling it well right now and obviously we haven’t faced much adversity yet. But hopefully they’ll continue to do that.”

Auburn will aim to go to 2-0 when they travel to face Cal on Sept. 9 at 10:30 p.m. (ESPN).