Redshirt sophomore quarterback Noah Kim, 14, warms up during Michigan State’s match against Minnesota on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022. The Gophers ultimately beat the Spartans, 34-7.
After the final spring practice of 2023, Michigan State football seemed primed for another season of Payton Thorne as the starting quarterback. While he was not a guaranteed starter, as head coach Mel Tucker stressed all spring long that the job for QB was an open competition, it seemed clear that Thorne was going to be the guy once more as he played with the starting unit for most of the open practice and scrimmage.
Plans quickly changed for the position shortly after spring football ended as Thorne decided to enter the transfer portal and take his talents down south to Auburn, leaving redshirt junior Noah Kim and redshirt freshman Katin Houser as the potential starters in East Lansing this upcoming fall.
While we have seen Tucker supplement his quarterback room before, adding Temple transfer Anthony Russo for the 2021 season, which then led to Thorne breaking the season record for touchdown passes thrown by a Spartan that fall, there is no guarantee that he will take that same approach this summer when surveying the transfer portal.
Let’s take a look at where Kim, Houser and the rest of the room stand in this edition of MSU Football Fall Position Breakdown:
Noah Kim
Kim comes in as the most experienced of the unit as he appeared in four games last season. In those four games against Ohio State, Minnesota, Akron and Western Michigan, Kim showed his accuracy off as he threw 14 completions in 19 attempts. Three of those 14 completions accounted for six points as they went for touchdowns. While he has only seen liminal game action, he seemed to have control of the offense during the last spring practice, where he arguably made the best throws of the day with some up-and-coming members of the roster, including a dime to redshirt freshman wide receiver Antonio Gates Jr.
Houser, a former four-star and the second highest rated recruit in MSU’s 2022 class, appeared in just the Akron game last fall. In the week two win, he only saw six snaps while completing one of his two pass attempts for a total of two yards. He also showed his ability to utilize his legs as well in his debut, picking up 13 yards on his only rushing attempt of the season. While the star potential seems to be there, as we saw the underclassman show off some beautiful touch in the spring game in the minimal action he received, his skill may need time to be honed before being thrown into the fire.
“I feel like I made a ton of plays throughout this whole spring,” Houser said after the conclusion of spring ball. “One thing I could work on is probably to stay consistent with those plays. I flashed some really good plays but there are areas where I need to work on so I think the biggest thing is just staying consistent.”
As of now, it is likely that Kim will be taking over for Thorne next season, unless Houser can put the pieces together and have a consistent fall camp.
Andrew Schorfhaar
Last but not least, the redshirt junior Schorfhaar rounds out the quarterback room for the Spartans. While the fourth-year QB has not made a single appearance in a game so far, he has been solid in the classroom, earning back-to-back All-Big Ten Academic honoree awards over the past two seasons. Pending any additions to the unit, Schorfhaar will likely be in competition for the third string position with incoming four-star freshman Sam Leavittthis autumn.
