AUBURN, Ala. – Watching Payton Thorne pile up 405 yards of offense, fellow Auburn quarterback Hank Brown asked the Tigers' captain a question.
"'Hank was asking me on the sidelines, 'Did you come out of a high school, are you a pro style or a dual threat?'" Thorne recounted. "I said I think I was listed as a dual threat."
Anyone who witnessed Thorne throw for more than 200 yards and rush for more than 100 yards – a feat Nick Marshall in 2014 most recently accomplished – in Auburn's 45-13 Homecoming win over Samford would agree with that assessment.
"I never really had an offense like this where the quarterback was involved in the run game," said Thorne who played his first three seasons at Michigan State before transferring to Auburn after spring practice. "It was simple zone read stuff so I never had anything blocked for me so I never really was out there running schemes. It was fun tonight to get that done."
Averaging 11.2 yards per attempt, Thorne totaled 123 rushing yards on 11 carries with two touchdowns. He also completed 75 percent of his passes, 24 for 32 for 282 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.
Bothered by foot injuries last season that limited him to 42 rushing yards, Thorne nearly tripled that total in three quarters vs. Samford.
"I was just trying to make the reads within the plays," he said. "Just trying to run the play that's called and execute. It's good to get out there and execute our stuff and feel good about it walking away for all the guys."
Thorne's speed and shiftiness came as no surprise to his teammates.
"I knew Payton could run like that," said tight end Rivaldo Fairweather, who made five receptions on five targets for 57 yards. "He's got sneaky speed. When the opportunity struck, he did it. He looked fast out there now. He looked good."
Thorne improvised, based on what he observed from Samford's defense, occasionally fooling not only the Bulldogs but Auburn's offensive line.
"He tricked me," said guard Jeremiah Wright. "We had a play in that was supposed to go one way, he ended up pulling it and he was out of there. He was wide open."
Thorne came out firing, attempting 25 first-half passes while completing 18 for 232 yards and a touchdown before intermission.
"I thought we got in a good rhythm early on," Thorne said. "I thought the receivers did a great job out there and I was on the same page as them, and they did a good job corralling the ball and making plays. We've got to finish a bit better in the red zone. For the most part I thought we executed pretty well tonight."
Thorne makes his SEC debut this week when the Tigers travel to College Station, Texas, to play Texas A&M Saturday at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN.
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer
