Observations: What we saw during two hours of Auburn football practice

The Tigers opened the final week of spring ball with a long media viewing window. Here's a ton of what we saw and heard Tuesday.

CB Kayin Lee (Austin Perryman/Auburn Tigers)

This is the final week of Auburn football’s 2024 spring practices, which means two things.

First, the Tigers will return to Jordan-Hare Stadium — in front of a live crowd — on Saturday for the annual A-Day Game. Second, Tuesday marked the last time media members would be able to watch practice.

And, man, did we ever make the most of that last opportunity.

After a pre-spring game press conference from head coach Hugh Freeze, media members were allowed to watch around two hours of Tuesday afternoon’s practice at the football performance center.

There’s a lot to get to in this edition of the Observations, from the quarterback battle and a fresh two-deep look on both sides of the ball to a bunch of notes on what we saw and heard on Tuesday afternoon.

So, let’s dive right in. Here’s more than 3,000 words on the last big day of spring practice access — starting with the most important position on the field.

QB Payton Thorne (Austin Perryman/Auburn Tigers)

Payton Thorne still leads the QB race, but it’ll continue

Even though Payton Thorne has a large number of FBS starts to his name — and the three other scholarship quarterbacks have little to no experience — Auburn opened 2024 with a real sense of competition at the position.

That’s still true toward the end of spring practices, according to Freeze.

“I think the competition between Hank (Brown), Holden (Geriner) and Payton has been really good,” Freeze said. “Walker (White) has got incredible arm strength, but as a freshman, he is swimming a little bit with a lot of the things he’s seeing from the defense. … I like the competition we’re seeing there.”

To be clear, though Thorne is still in the early lead for the job. That’s been the case throughout the spring, as he’s been the first quarterback in pretty much every drill during media viewing windows.

“Payton will still be in the lead, pole position come fall camp right now — based on what we've seen this spring,” Freeze said. “But I do think that the gap's not very far from him and Hank and Holden. Again, that doesn't mean Walker's not doing well. He's just learning. But he's really, really talented.

“Going into fall camp, Payton will be in that No. 1 spot.”

A few hours after Freeze’s press conference, it was easy to see why Thorne is considered to be in the driver’s seat for QB1.