It's a 76-mile trip to East Lansing from Ypsilanti, and Saturday night is more than just a  non-conference game against his former team. For Kim, it’s a return to the team that believed in him and gave him his first chance as a starting quarterback in college.

It’s also where Kim formed some of his closest friendships and started a path that eventually brought him back to Spartan Stadium.

“I consider a group of my best friends being the guys that I met freshman year,” Kim said at a press conference on Monday. “We lived across the hall from each other in the dorm rooms, and then we got a house together and stuff like that. I think probably just the relationships that I made and experiences that I was able to go out and experience. Just playing in Big Ten stadiums, traveling, all of that stuff is just definitely something that I will cherish.”

Those relationships are part of what makes Saturday different. Kim returns to MSU with three more years of college football experience. The 24-year-old has racked up 14 starts and seven backup appearances since leaving the program, building experience with in-game reps. That experience has shown early this season. Kim owns a 63% completion percentage, the second-highest of his career, while limiting himself to one turnover through two games.

“When he was younger, he was at times a little bit looser with the ball, but I see him now as an older guy," Defensive coordinator Joe Rossi said on Wednesday. "He values the ball. He takes care of it. If the throw’s not there, he puts it out in the flat, or he throws it away. I think it's just the maturity that you see with a lot of football players.”

The Centreville, Virginia, native arrived at MSU as part of the 2020 recruiting class that finished 45th nationally, according to 247 Sports. Kim didn’t immediately impact the field, but earned his first opportunity as the starter in 2023. Kim beat out Katin Houser and Sam Leavitt that season, who have both carved out starting jobs for Illinois and LSU, respectively, in 2026.

Kim flourished in his first two starts for the Spartans. He combined for 5 touchdowns and 571 passing yards with no turnovers against Central Michigan University and Richmond University. He excelled in his first two performances, but as soon as conference play started, his production took a steep decline over the next three games.

He was benched on Sept. 30, 2023, after throwing three interceptions in Iowa City against the Hawkeyes, and never saw the field again for the Spartans.

The following offseason, MSU brought in head coach Jonathan Smith, who arrived with his quarterback, Aidan Chiles, from Oregon State. Kim entered his name into the transfer portal and began his new journey at Coastal Carolina.

His experience in Conway, South Carolina, only lasted one season before he ventured back to Michigan to join the Eagles.

At Eastern Michigan, Kim finally discovered an opportunity to settle down and start over.

He started all 12 games for EMU in 2025 and threw for 2,817 yards and 18 touchdowns. Although turnovers still impacted his play, he was able to establish himself as one of the most experienced quarterbacks in the Mid-American Conference and has continued to build on that campaign in 2026.

Kim enters this Saturday with 453 passing yards and three touchdowns through two games.

“I think Noah’s a heck of an athlete,” MSU head coach Pat Fitzgerald said at Monday’s media availability. “He’s got an ability to make all the throws that show up on tape — veteran guy,  seven years. He’s played a lot of football. He’s seen a lot of football.”

The familiarity between MSU and Kim is another byproduct of the college football NIL and transfer portal era, something Fitzgerald has said will become increasingly more common.

“We’ll obviously have great respect for his game and for him, but we need to worry about us,” Fitzgerald said. “We’ve got to get so much better.”