Payton Thorne

Last updated

Payton Thorne
PaytonThorne.jpg
Thorne with Michigan State in 2021
Personal information
Born: (2001-06-26) June 26, 2001 (age 24)
Naperville, Illinois, U.S.
Height:6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight:207 lb (94 kg)
Career information
Position: Quarterback
High school: Naperville Central
(Naperville, Illinois)
College: Michigan State (2019–2022)
Auburn (2023–2024)
NFL draft: 2025: undrafted
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only

Payton Thorne (born June 26, 2001) is an American professional football quarterback. He played college football for the Michigan State Spartans and Auburn Tigers before signing with the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent in 2025.

Contents

Early life

Thorne originally attended Metea Valley High School in Aurora, Illinois before transferring to Naperville Central High School in Naperville, Illinois. As a senior in 2018, he was named the Chicago Sun-Times and Naperville Sun Player of the Year after throwing for 3,113 yards and 40 touchdowns. [1] [2] Thorne originally committed to Western Michigan University to play college football but later switched to Michigan State University. [3] [4]

College career

Thorne was redshirted his first year at Michigan State in 2019. [5]

In 2020, he played in four games as a backup to Rocky Lombardi and made one start. In his first career start against Penn State he passed for 325 yards and three touchdowns. [6] [7] For the season, he completed 48 of 85 passes for 582 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions.

In 2021, Thorne was named the Spartans starter to open the season. [8] [9] In his first full year as a starter, Thorne threw for 3,240 yards, 27 TDs, 10 INTs, with a 77.7 QBR. [10]

In 2022, he was a 12 game starter with 2,679 yards passing, 19 touchdown passes and one rushing TD. [11]

In the 2023 offseason, Thorne transferred to Auburn to play under newly acquired head coach Hugh Freeze. He was a starter in 2023, and had 16 TDs with ten interceptions for the season.

For 2024, he beat out freshmen Hank Brown and Walker White for the starter spot in summer practice, but was benched in favour of Brown following Auburn's week 2 loss against California. [12] Two weeks later, due to Brown's poor play, Thorne returned to the starter. [13] He finished the season with 21 TDs, nine interceptions, and 2,713 yards. [14]

Statistics

SeasonTeamGamesPassingRushing
GPGSRecordCmpAttPctYdsAvgTDIntRtgAttYdsAvgTD
2019 Michigan State Redshirt Redshirt.svg
2020 Michigan State 410–1488556.55826.833118.625471.91
2021 Michigan State 131311–223538960.43,2328.32710148.0821812.24
2022 Michigan State 12125–724238762.52,6796.91911131.260420.71
2023 Auburn 13126–616226561.11,7557.01610129.11345153.83
2024 Auburn 11104–619931762.82,7138.6219150.81122832.52
Career 534826−228851,44261.410,9617.68643138.94131,0682.611

Professional career

Pre-draft measurables
HeightWeightArm lengthHand span 40-yard dash 10-yard split20-yard split 20-yard shuttle Three-cone drill Vertical jump Broad jump
6 ft 1+5⁄8 in
(1.87 m)		207 lb
(94 kg)		31 in
(0.79 m)		9+1⁄4 in
(0.23 m)		4.70 s1.67 s2.69 s4.25 s7.20 s31.0 in
(0.79 m)		9 ft 9 in
(2.97 m)
All values from Pro Day [15]

On May 9, 2025, Thorne signed with the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent after going unselected in the 2025 NFL draft. [16] He was waived on August 25. [17]

Personal life

Thorne is a Christian. [18] Thorne's father, Jeff Thorne, was the offensive coordinator at Western Michigan in 2022. [19]

References

  1. ↑ Long, Beth (November 21, 2018). "2018 Chicago Sun-Times Player of the Year: Naperville Central's Payton Thorne". Chicago Sun-Times.
  2. ↑ Baumgartner, Blake (November 17, 2018). "Naperville Central's Payton Thorne is the 2018 Naperville Sun Football Player of the Year". chicagotribune.com.
  3. ↑ Baumgartner, Blake (December 15, 2018). "Changeup: Naperville Central's Payton Thorne switches from Western Michigan to Michigan State". chicagotribune.com.
  4. ↑ Wenzel, Matt (December 18, 2018). "The rapid process that led QB Payton Thorne to Michigan State". mlive. Retrieved April 29, 2025.
  5. ↑ Schmit, Kevin (June 19, 2020). "Naperville Central grad Thorne has high hopes at Michigan State". Football Focus.
  6. ↑ Baumgartner, Blake (April 6, 2021). "Naperville's Payton Thorne made a difference in his first start at QB for Michigan State. Now, he wants to do that with regularity". chicagotribune.com.
  7. ↑ "Michigan State QB Payton Thorne shines early in first career start". mlive. December 12, 2020.
  8. ↑ "Payton Thorne to start at QB for Michigan State in season opener at Northwestern". mlive. September 4, 2021.
  9. ↑ Charboneau, Matt. "Payton Thorne named starting QB for MSU ahead of opener vs. Northwestern". The Detroit News.
  10. ↑ "Payton Thorne Stats, News, Bio". ESPN. Retrieved July 31, 2022.
  11. ↑ "Payton Thorne transfers to Auburn: Ex-Michigan State starting QB adds intrigue to battle entering summer". CBS Sports. May 5, 2023. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Payton Thorne Benched, What's Next for Auburn Tigers". Auburn Tigers On SI. September 13, 2024. Retrieved January 16, 2025.
  13. ↑ Cobb, David (September 27, 2024). "Auburn to start Payton Thorne vs. Oklahoma: Hugh Freeze pivots back to veteran QB for SEC battle with Sooners". CBSSports.com. Retrieved March 20, 2025.
  14. ↑ "Payton Thorne - Auburn Tigers Quarterback". ESPN. Retrieved January 16, 2025.
  15. ↑ "Payton Thorne College Football Profile". DraftScout.com. Retrieved April 14, 2025.
  16. ↑ "Bengals Sign 13 Rookies BENGALS ROSTER UPDATE". Bengals.com. Retrieved May 10, 2025.
  17. ↑ "Bengals Make Roster Moves Ahead of 53-Man Deadline". Bengals.com. August 25, 2025.
  18. ↑ Doering, Joshua (November 17, 2021). "Michigan State QB Payton Thorne looks to God while leading resurgent Spartans". Sports Spectrum. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  19. ↑ Solari, Chris (November 19, 2020). "Twists of fate allow Michigan State QB Payton Thorne's dad to see son play up close". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.