Michigan State Football returned to Spartan Stadium for the spring game on Saturday, April 16, 2022. redshirt sophomore quarterback Noah Kim (14) was one of the three revolving backups for redshirt junior quarterback Payton Thorne (10).
After a breakout season in 2021, there’s no doubt junior quarterback Payton Thorne will be leading the team on the field once again this year. However, there still appears to be multiple contenders battling it out at practice for the number two spot.
Taking the lead is redshirt sophomore quarterback Noah Kim who hasn’t taken an in-game snap since high school, but has been proving himself in recent months according to offensive coordinator Jay Johnson.
“He's matured a little bit and continues to grow, really has had a solid strength but then – I think he's followed that up with some great work this summer in preparation and has been performing again at a pretty consistently high level,” Johnson said.
Although Johnson said if he had to decide then and there, Kim would “probably” be the backup, Kim isn’t satisfied yet and knows there’s more work to be done before the season officially opens on Sept. 2.
“The way I look at it is I don't feel like I'm in a specific one, two, three, or four” Kim said. “I feel like I'm always at the bottom and I'm always competing every single day. I got to earn my spot every single day.”
As for his lack of on field experience, Kim isn’t too worried.
“I go into every practice like it's a game and like Coach Tuck says; the practices are harder than games, and that's how he tries to make it and I think once that time comes, I'll be ready,” Kim said.
Also in contention is freshman quarterback Katin Houser who was highly recruited right out of high school and is expected to move into the starting position in the future. Houser, who enrolled at the university last January, has had more time to grow before the season than the average freshman.
“When I first came in, it was all just craziness,” Houser said. “I was all over the place as far as just my ability and stuff like that, but as far as now ... I feel like I've really grown and as far as learning the offense, it's all laid out. It's like I've really taken a step this fall camp.”
Houser went on to say that one of his goals this season is to record some minutes on the field.
“I definitely want to get in a certain part of the game, whether that's certain minutes or however long that is,” Houser said. “I definitely want to get in the game and kind of get that experience because I feel like I need that experience.”
Although there’s now some insight into the quarterback depth chart, Johnson says nothing is official yet.
“That's still I would say somewhat of an ongoing battle and we'll continue to kind of evaluate that probably in the next eight to 10 days,” Johnson said. “We try to monitor the reps very, very diligently every day and really give all the guys a bunch of reps, and so it's a little bit hard to say at this point.”
Decisions will likely be finalized before Michigan State’s season opener on Friday, Sept. 2 against Western Michigan at Spartan Stadium.
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