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![\"MIKE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4207900_web1_260506-Bombers-0060.jpg\")
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MIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
Quarterback Payton Thorne during the first day of Winnipeg Blue Bombers rookie camp at Princess Auto Stadium on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were projected by one of the huge publications that we were going to be the fourth worst team in the country,\u201d said Thorne after Day 2 of Bombers rookie camp on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then we won 11 games, it was great. I wish we could\u2019ve won one more and got ourselves into the Big Ten championship but no regrets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walker, now a member of the Kansas City Chiefs, was this year\u2019s Super Bowl MVP after rushing for 135 yards on 27 carries in Seattle\u2019s 29-13 win over New England.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just texted me this off-season saying he\u2019s coming up to Chicago and that he wants to hang out,\u201d said Thorne.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him you better get your passport because I might not be in Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n
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 \u2014 a league he was already somewhat familiar with for a rather bizarre reason.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve 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,\u201d said Thorne.<\/p>\n
He learned a bit more during his two years at Auburn under quarterbacks coach Kent Austin \u2014 a Grey Cup-winning QB (1989, 1994), offensive co-ordinator (2004) and head coach (2007).<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, he\u2019s 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOther than that, I didn\u2019t hear much about the CFL. With the waggles and all these motions and all that, I didn\u2019t really know what that was all about, and obviously the 12 guys. It\u2019s definitely a different game, but the end goal is the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cNumber one is to win, and as a quarterback, play fast, get the ball out of your hand and lead your guys down the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
To help with the recruiting pitch, Bombers assistant general manager Danny McManus sent Thorne a list of successful coaches \u2014 names like Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton \u2014 with CFL playing experience to entice him to sign.<\/p>\n
Thorne, however, is in no rush to trade his helmet for a headset.<\/p>\n
To delay that transition, he\u2019ll need to separate himself from the pack of promising arms he\u2019s been working alongside in camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething I learned a long time ago is that when you\u2019re in a quarterback competition, you\u2019re not competing with the other quarterbacks \u2014 you\u2019re competing with the defence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\tThe Warm-Up<\/p>\n
Winnipeg Jets Game Days<\/p>\n
On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop.<\/p>\n
\t\t\tSign up for The Warm-Up<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \u201cNo one guy in this competition is going to pick the other guy off, no one is going to sack each other \u2014 it\u2019s not a battle like that. Obviously, you\u2019re a competitor and you want to win whatever job you\u2019re competing for. And I plan on putting my best foot forward and seeing where it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen (Thorne) talks football, you realize he\u2019s always been around a coach. He just has good answers, he thinks before he speaks and he\u2019s been in a bunch of different playbooks, too,\u201d said Bombers head coach Mike O\u2019Shea.<\/p>\n \u201cHe knows how to learn and I\u2019m sure, sitting around the dinner table when he was a young kid, he probably absorbed a lot of good things about that position.\u201d<\/p>\n winnipegfreepress.com\/taylorallen<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Taylor Allen Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree\/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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