Auburn football news: Redshirt freshman QB Hank Brown reportedly started against New Mexico

Auburn redshirt freshman quarterback Hank Brown is set to start the first game of his college career Saturday night as the Tigers take on the New Mexico Lobos for homecoming at Jordan-Hare Stadium, according to multiple reports.

On3 Sports’ Justin Hokanson was the first to report the change.

The change in Auburn’s starting lineup comes a week after Payton Thorne, the Tigers’ starting quarterback, threw four interceptions in last week’s upset loss to the Cal Golden Bears.

After watching the film, we have a very, very short leash to play as poorly as we do at that position,” Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said of the quarterback situation during Wednesday’s SEC coaches teleconference.”

Filled with questions about the quarterback position during Monday’s press conference, Freeze alluded to Thorne being the most consistent performer in practice and his conditioning.

However, as illustrated in the loss to Cal, that didn’t always translate on game day.

In his first year on the field after transferring from Michigan State, Thorne passed for 1,755 yards, 16 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Through two games into the 2023 season, Thorne has passed for 487 yards, five touchdowns and four interceptions.

Clearly unhappy with Thorne’s performance in Week 2, Freeze left the door open for a possible change at quarterback heading into Auburn’s Week 3 game against New Mexico.

After Brown was named the Tigers’ backup quarterback shortly before Auburn’s season opener, all signs pointed to the redshirt freshman being the guy the Tigers would turn to if Freeze decided to make a trade.

“Hank will primarily be the backup,” Freeze said on Aug. 19. “It’s just that when you put all the reps down, man, he was really, really good at throwing the football in camp. He threw some really good balls.”

Since arriving at Auburn in June 2023, Brown has appeared in just two games: last year’s Music City Bowl in his hometown of Nashville and Auburn’s season opener against Alabama A&M.

Over those two appearances, Brown passed for 228 yards and two touchdowns on 10-for-14 passing.

Coming out of Lipscomb Academy, where he played for current UAB head coach Trent Dilfer, Brown was rated a three-star quarterback by 247Sports before committing to the Tigers.