Payton Thorne recently appeared on a podcast, opening up about his Michigan State departure and why he left.
Michigan State is moving forward with a new quarterback. Some fans, however, still have questions about the process.
In his first public interview since transferring to Auburn, Payton Thorne opened up about his exit from Michigan State. Thorne joined the On To Victory podcast to discuss his move.
After last year’s disappointing season, many fans were wanting some type of change. Most commonly, at the quarterback position. Now that the team is officially moving forward with a new QB1, we’re starting to get our first glimpses of the transition process.
If you’d like to get the cliff notes of Thorne’s comments, we’ll summarize.
Thorne said, “If you would’ve asked me five days before I entered the portal if I was transferring, I would’ve asked you what you were talking about. There were a series of events that happened that brought me to enter the portal and it all happened really quick.”
Payton would go on to talk about Mark Dantonio recruiting him and how he made comparisons between Thorne and MSU great, Kirk Cousins. Thorne had aspirations of reaching Cousins’ arch of success with the program. Thorne said from day one, he looked at Cousins’ records and wanted to break them.
Later in the interview Thorne would discuss the benefit of switching from a defensive minded head coach in Mel Tucker to an offensive minded staff in Auburn.
There’s already been speculation that one of the reasons Thorne transferred is because he wasn’t assured of the starting job in East Lansing. While this theory is just speculative at this point, the time frame of the process makes it plausible. Tucker is known for not promising roles to anyone and believes they must all be earned. Thorne set the single-season passing touchdown record for Michigan State only to be entering the portal a year later. If Tucker, in fact, took his approach with Thorne, it can really only be viewed as a positive with the program. The team should be full of guys that have earned their roles.
Perhaps the most interesting part of Thorne’s interview is when he said, “The pros and cons (of staying at MSU vs. transferring to Auburn) weren’t close and that’s what brought me to Auburn.”
At this point, Michigan State fans are undoubtedly ready to move forward. However any glimpse into why things play out the way they do can serve as clarity for fans to move on.
More must-reads: