Thorne has a backup plan

If Payton Thorne has it his way, he won’t have much time for his Super Bowl MVP-winning friend this summer.

The 24-year-old quarterback from Naperville, Ill., hopes he’ll be too busy in Winnipeg as a member of the Blue Bombers.

Thorne, along with Terry Wilson, Taylor Elgersma and Bryce Perkins, are battling for the second- and third-string roles behind starting pivot Zach Collaros.

Thorne, a four-year college starter between Michigan State and Auburn, first got scouts talking in 2021 as a sophomore when he led the Spartans to an 11-2 record alongside star running back Kenneth Walker III.

“We were projected by one of the huge publications that we were going to be the fourth worst team in the country,” said Thorne after Day 2 of Bombers rookie camp on Thursday.

“And then we won 11 games, it was great. I wish we could’ve won one more and got ourselves into the Big Ten championship but no regrets.”

Walker, now a member of the Kansas City Chiefs, was this year’s Super Bowl MVP after rushing for 135 yards on 27 carries in Seattle’s 29-13 win over New England.

“He just texted me this off-season saying he’s coming up to Chicago and that he wants to hang out,” said Thorne.

“I told him you better get your passport because I might not be in Chicago.”

Thorne got a taste of the NFL last season when he suited up for the Cincinnati Bengals in pre-season action. A few months after his release, he decided to pursue the three-down loop — a league he was already somewhat familiar with for a rather bizarre reason.

“I’ve actually known about (the CFL) for a long time. I have a vivid, strange memory of one game in the summer, the reporter was talking about they could fry an egg on the sideline it was so hot, so that was my main memory of the CFL when I was young,” said Thorne.

He learned a bit more during his two years at Auburn under quarterbacks coach Kent Austin — a Grey Cup-winning QB (1989, 1994), offensive co-ordinator (2004) and head coach (2007).

In 53 career college games, Thorne had 10,961 yards passing yards, 86 touchdowns and 43 interceptions along with 1,068 rushing yards and 11 rushing scores.

“Obviously, he’s a legend up here. We had a team meeting where they showed someone that has a tattoo of him on their arm, so everyone was dying laughing,” he said.

“Other than that, I didn’t hear much about the CFL. With the waggles and all these motions and all that, I didn’t really know what that was all about, and obviously the 12 guys. It’s definitely a different game, but the end goal is the same.

“Number one is to win, and as a quarterback, play fast, get the ball out of your hand and lead your guys down the field.”

Thorne plans to get into coaching one day. His late father Jeff coached North Central College to a Div. III national title in 2019 before becoming an offensive co-ordinator at Western Michigan.

To help with the recruiting pitch, Bombers assistant general manager Danny McManus sent Thorne a list of successful coaches — names like Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton — with CFL playing experience to entice him to sign.

Thorne, however, is in no rush to trade his helmet for a headset.

To delay that transition, he’ll need to separate himself from the pack of promising arms he’s been working alongside in camp.

“Something I learned a long time ago is that when you’re in a quarterback competition, you’re not competing with the other quarterbacks — you’re competing with the defence,” he said.

“No one guy in this competition is going to pick the other guy off, no one is going to sack each other — it’s not a battle like that. Obviously, you’re a competitor and you want to win whatever job you’re competing for. And I plan on putting my best foot forward and seeing where it goes.”

The first major test comes May 23 when the Bombers travel to Regina to play the Roughriders in their first of two pre-season games.

“When (Thorne) talks football, you realize he’s always been around a coach. He just has good answers, he thinks before he speaks and he’s been in a bunch of different playbooks, too,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea.

“He knows how to learn and I’m sure, sitting around the dinner table when he was a young kid, he probably absorbed a lot of good things about that position.”

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