Thorne gets off to shaky start, WR room shows talent

Without a distinguished starting running back coming into tonight’s game, MSU has looked to redshirt junior quarterback Payton Thorne to lead the offense. However, in his first few possessions, he didn’t seem to have the same accuracy seen last season. He overthrew three passes that could have been caught and would have put the Spartans in much better offensive possession. Thorne also threw an uncharacteristic interception back across the field in the last minute of the first half.

While his initial throws were off, he was able to recover enough to throw three touchdowns before the half to some new targets. The first touchdown of the season was caught by freshman wide receiver Germie Bernard, who coaches have been excited about going into tonight’s game.

Coaches have also shown enthusiasm for sophomore wide receiver Keon Coleman who proved himself early in the second half by fighting off a defender in the endzone to snag a touchdown pass from Thorne.

The Spartans were looking for young wide receivers like Coleman and Bernard to step up to Jayden Reed’s level after losing another star in Jaylen Nailor to the NFL. 

Jalen Berger starts at RB

After losing star running back Kenneth Walker III to the NFL, the question on everyone’s mind coming into tonight’s game was who was going to take his starting spot. Competition during the off-season was between Berger and fellow transfer Jarek Broussard, as well as Elijah Collins. 

After a grueling summer of training, Mel Tucker gave the nod to Berger to get the start. He ran for 51 yards in seven attempts, while Broussard got in later in the first half to run for 20 yards in four attempts. 

Although the Spartans relied more heavily on their veteran leader Thorne and the passing game, the two show a lot of promise and will likely continue to battle it out for the starting spot going forward. 

Defensive line comes out swinging, still too early to tell on secondary

The improvement of MSU’s secondary has been the question going into the 2022 season. It’s no secret, it was the pain in their side last season, and the Spartans will need to improve if they hope to meet their high expectations this year. 

The defensive line has also made it known that they’ve spent the off season getting stronger, and they came out swinging. Defensive tackles Simeon Barrow and Jacob Slade got off to a hot start when they rushed Western Michigan quarterback Jack Salopeck to quickly put a stop to their drive.

Also standing out on the defensive side have been linebacker Jacoby Windmon and defensive end Khris Bogle. They’ve identified themselves as playmakers who can move momentum to the MSU defense and end opposing drives quickly.

So far, the Broncos have thrown for 74 passing yards, and have run for 80 rushing yards. It’s still too early to see if the secondary has made leaps and bounds of progress from last season, but it will be tough to see improvement without Darius Snow, who’s known for his versatility and went down with an injury in the final minutes of the first half.