According to Beth Long...

...of the Sun-Times, Payton Thorne (above with his father and grandfather) is one of the Chicago area's top ten quarterbacks (my emphasis):

7. Payton Thorne, Naperville Central, Jr., QB (6-2, 180): First team All-DuPage Valley last season, threw for 1,623 yards and 23 touchdowns for Metea Valley. The junior has transferred to Naperville Central and will have to adjust to a new system. He has size, field vision and the ability to make the long toss. Thorne is capable of putting the ball on the ground, but is most dangerous through the air.

First team All-DVC last year and he transferred across town to Naperville Central? What gives? Did his parents suddenly up and move to a different school district?

Coincidentally, I received this email last night from a friend in Naperville. (It's lightly edited with my emphasis.)

Hope all is well, on the eve of another high school football season!

Some info to pass along you might find interesting. None of it is “insider info” these days, ha, but still might be interesting.

Payton Thorne transferred from Metea Valley to Naperville Central this year, and by all accounts will have the starting quarterback job at Central. He’s just a junior if I recall correctly. He played at Metea last year as a sophomore and is the son of Jeff Thorne, who’s the head coach over at North Central College, smack in downtown Naperville and oh, about 600 yards from Naperville Central, ha. Word is senior Thorne had a falling out with Metea’s coaches about how his son was being used (can’t confirm, all second hand), and that it was time to move on. Payton is listed at 6'2" 170 lbs or so, so could grow into a larger frame. By all accounts, Payton has a long, long, long way to go to develop as a quarterback, but interesting that he already has an offer from Western Michigan University. Oh, and WMU’s coach? Tim Lester, who was teammates with Jeff Thorne at Wheaton Central (now Wheaton Warrenville South), back in the day. Will be interesting to track young Payton’s development.

That picture at the top of this post was taken from an article last year in the Naperville Sun:

[Payton's] grandfather won four state championships in the 1990s during a 22-year run at Wheaton Central and Wheaton Warrenville South. He then went on to become North Central College's winningest coach before retiring after the 2014 season.

Payton's dad, North Central's current coach, starred at quarterback at Wheaton Central and Eastern Illinois before following John into the coaching business.

On the basement wall is a photo of his grandfather, John, hugging his dad, Jeff, after winning a state championship at Wheaton Warrenville South.

Oh, and yes, according to the piece young Payton was named after a certain Chicago Bears running back.