After an injury to the shoulder i Red-brown tigersloss to Vanderbilt two weeks ago, there was speculation that starting quarterback Payton Thorne would not be available against Louisiana-Monroe.

Thorne did not practice during the bye week but performed well enough in practice this week to get the green light. Jason Caldwell from 247 Sports was among the first to report that Thorne would get the nod for the ULM game.

“It feels a lot better,” Thorne said of his shoulder on Tuesday. “Much better than last week, I got good treatment on it. Obviously I’ve been working every day to get it back to normal.”

Auburn is coming off a bye week that allowed Thorne to take time to recover rather than rushing back onto the field.

“Just in the weight room getting treatment, being careful what I do in the weight room,” Thorne said of how his recovery has been. “Coach Dobbs is obviously great, so I totally trust him with what he got me to do in there. No throw last week for me.”

Despite uncertainty surrounding Thorne’s performance in practice earlier this week, head coach Hugh Freeze was sure Thorne would be ready to go on Wednesday.

“Not as far as I would have hoped with the shoulder,” Freeze said of Thorne’s status Wednesday. “He thinks he’ll be fine, but he wasn’t ready to play yesterday for sure.”

This is welcome news for the Tigers who are fighting for the chance to play in a bowl game this winter.

“I’m just focused on doing what I can to help us win and play the best I can and finish this the right way,” Thorne said. “Obviously it’s one game, one week at a time.”

Thorne and the Tigers kick off against Louisiana-Monroe at 11:45 a.m. CT on Saturday. The SEC Network will carry the telecast.