Payton Thorne 'not as far along' as Hugh Freeze hoped following Tuesday's practice

Despite returning to practice on Tuesday, Payton Thorne still "was not ready to play," according to Hugh Freeze.

Thorne suffered an injury to his throwing shoulder against Vanderbilt, preventing him from practicing during Auburn's bye week. Thorne was present and participating during the portion of Auburn's Tuesday practice open to media, but Freeze still isn't satisfied with his progress recovering from injury.

"Not as far along as I'd hoped, with the shoulder," Freeze said during the SEC coaches teleconference. "He thinks he's going to be fine, but he was not ready to play yesterday, for sure."

When speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Thorne seemed confident that he would play this week, saying he was "good to go."

"I trust the process we're doing in the training room," Thorne said. "Knock on wood, I haven't missed a game yet in my career. I don't plan on doing that anytime soon."

Since Auburn's matchup with Louisiana-Monroe is not an SEC game, there will be no official availability report prior to the game.

Freeze also mentioned both during the bye week and on Monday that he and the staff are "debating" making a change at quarterback.

"It's certainly not an indication that I don't think [Thorne] is playing pretty solid here," Freeze said Monday. "But you just start kind of thinking big picture. And that's not always the easiest thing to do because you love your players, and you want what's best for all of them and what gives us the best chance to win the remaining three games."

When asked about Freeze's comments regarding a quarterback change, Thorne said he had not been involved in any conversations about a change at the position.