How Does Byrum Brown Compare to Hugh Freeze Quarterbacks?

Quarterback play seems to have haunted the Auburn Tigers ever since Bo Nix left the program to transfer to Oregon back in 2021. Both Bryan Harsin and Hugh Freeze certainly gave the position a decent attempt, but nothing ever seemed to stick.

Now, a new era is dawning on the Plains, led by former USF head coach Alex Golesh, who brought over Byrum Brown, his long-time quarterback with the Bulls. However, Brown technically has less top-level experience than Payton Thorne and Jackson Arnold did at the beginning of their Auburn careers, since Brown played in the AAC, while Thorne transferred in from Michigan State and Arnold transferred in from Oklahoma.

So, how does Brown stack up with the Tigers’ two failed quarterbacks? Auburn Tigers on SI takes a look at each quarterback’s prior season, or the one before they transferred to Auburn, and analyzes what Brown does differently than the others.

For starters, Brown had the best prior season of any of the three, as his 2025 season at USF resulted in a 9-4 finish, including wins over Boise State and Florida, with a few bad losses to teams like Navy and Memphis.

Arnold technically ranks second in this stat, though his 5-5 2024 record with the Oklahoma Sooners is a bit diminished by the fact that he lost the starting job throughout the season. Thorne ranks third, with an all-too-familiar 5-7 record.

Arnold had the worst prior season of the three by counting stats, passing for just over 1,400 yards, 12 touchdowns and three interceptions, while rushing for 444 yards and three touchdowns. Thorne ranks second among the group, as he passed for 2,679 yards, 19 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, though he only rushed for 42 yards and a lone touchdown.

Brown, conversely, accumulated over 4,000 total yards last season, including 3,158 passing yards, 28 touchdowns and seven interceptions, while rushing for 1,008 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Additionally, Brown has an advantage that neither Arnold nor Thorne was able to speak of: familiarity. Brown joins his 2025 USF coach, offensive coordinator, multiple key pieces of his offensive line and several of his receivers on the Plains this season, meaning that, unlike Arnold or Thorne, there is not an entirely new system to learn for the transfer quarterback.

Many argue that Brown’s strength of schedule at USF is the reason he put up such impressive numbers, but keep in mind that Arnold passed for just 54 yards in Oklahoma’s 2024 loss to Tennessee, while Thorne’s Spartans lost to Maryland, Minnesota and Washington in 2022.

Conversely, Brown showed up in big ways even when the Bulls dropped three games this past season, as he passed for 274 yards in a Bulls’ loss to Miami, 269 yards with an additional 121 yards and two touchdowns on the ground in a loss to Memphis and 327 yards and two touchdowns through the air and an additional 136 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in a shootout loss to Navy.

Many of the Bulls’ losses last season can be attributed to shaky defensive play, not necessarily massive issues with the quarterback, which Arnold and Thorne could not say.

So, it is clear that, even with a weaker schedule, Brown is certainly a much better option for the Tigers than Arnold or Thorne were, though he will have an added advantage over the prior two quarterbacks.

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