Payton Thorne to Auburn

Submitted by Dennis on May 6th, 2023 at 12:57 PM

Payton Thorne officially announced he'll be heading to Auburn to continue his QB career. Notable Sparty WR Keon Coleman will be visiting Florida State this weekend. I would say that 7-L Mel probably has his hair on fire but alas, he is already quite bald. Twitter link

Amazinblu

May 6th, 2023 at 1:17 PM ^

Great question..

But, there’s one other fact, and.. I know it’s early for the ‘24 recruiting classes.. but, you have to look at the B1G as a conference and where MSU is.

I checked it out this morning, and of the fourteen B1G teams - MSU is number 1.

Oh, my mistake - I missed a digit, they are actually “1-1”… oh no - a blunder again - the Spartans are 11th (in the B1G) with only Indiana, Illinois, and Northwestern behind them. 

My Curiosity was also piqued when looking at Auburn’s academic ranking - according to USNWR.  Auburn is actually ranked higher than Alabama.   This surprised me.

It seems like my appreciation for Mel grows almost every day.  Really hoping they give him a raise and an extension.

 

 

Blueisgood

May 6th, 2023 at 1:41 PM ^

I answered this in a previous thread, but the answer is an easy one. Freeze is a good coach. If I'm Thorne, and I have NFL dreams, I'm being coached by Freeze. He has an actual track record of turning a program around, and the QB is going to put his talents on display in the offense. I'm not saying Freeze is a great human being, but he is a good coach.

Perkis-Size Me

May 6th, 2023 at 2:30 PM ^

If I have NFL dreams and want to win, I go with Hugh Freeze and just deal with his shenanigans.

Like him or not, he’s a good coach, and he might be the only coach who’s ever beaten Saban in back to back years at Alabama. Beating them once is hard enough. Doing it two years in a row? THAT is something to write home about.

Tucker’s program looks like it’s teetering on the verge of collapse, and he kept his staff’s entire bonus payout for himself. I don’t think he’s a petty turd with a massive inferiority complex like his predecessor was, but he doesn’t appear to be a full standup guy either.

At least Freeze can build a program and win.

Amazinblu

May 6th, 2023 at 3:16 PM ^

I hope they have the foresight to extend Mel’s contract.  He deserves more time - much more time.  Making him “coach for life”, would make me very happy.

And, give him a huge raise - double his salary - so Mel won’t be tempted by any other team that approaches him.

Bo Harbaugh

May 6th, 2023 at 3:31 PM ^

They will give him at least 3 more years with that albatross of a contract.

1) They are not a football school - The Dontininio years were an historical outlier (perfect storm of UM stepping on its own dick and Mork being a good enough coach with a psychotic lil bro complex to take advantage).

2) They still get the B1G TV revenues and splits from UM, OSU and PSU to rake in big $ if bringing in eyeballs for those team's playoffs and matchups agains the B1G elite.

3) Their trash stadium being half empty is simply back to status quo.

4) 7L Mel's job is to get them back to 7-5, 8-4 mediocrity, while their basketball program does the heavy lifting for the athletic department.

On a side note, I'd rather not play them every year because the further divergence there is in program talent and on field performance, the even further it becomes their Super Bowl and more likely they are to injure our players. It also gives them relevance that their trash program simply doesn't deserve.

Tunneler

May 6th, 2023 at 4:16 PM ^

Losing to MSU during the RR & Hoke years was brutal. I think UM was 1-6 & the games were not particularly close (except the one we squeaked out 12-10 with 4 field goals). Harbaugh unintentionally helped Tucker get that $95M contract, and still won the B1G. Now they are fucked long term & the NIL and recruiting for UM is ramping up after 2 CFP appearances. Kicking the shit out of MSU is just the way it is supposed to be.

Leaders And Best

May 6th, 2023 at 3:44 PM ^

I'm not sure one good year from FSU puts them back in the national picture. Just one year ago, some of their fanbase weren't sure if Mike Norvell would be the coach today.

If you asked me to bet on one of the three state of Florida programs in the near-term future, it would be hard to confidently pick one of them over the others.