EAST LANSING — Offensive coordinator Jay Johnson raved about the changes Payton Thorne made during the summer as the junior prepares to enter his second season as Michigan State football’s starting quarterback.
No job, barring a potential injury, is more secure than Thorne’s entering the 2022 season. He is the only quarterback on the Spartans’ roster to take a snap in a college game.
Yet if something does happen ahead of the Sept. 2 opener against Western Michigan, or beyond that, Johnson knows who he’ll turn to. At least for now.
Johnson confirmed sophomore Noah Kim is his No. 2 option at quarterback, with freshman Katin Houser still competing for the role.
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“Noah Kim has been really doing some positive things,” Johnson said Thursday. “I think as he’s matured a little bit, he continues to grow. He really had had a solid spring, 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. So I’m excited to see him again when we get in some more live situations to see how he responds, how he manages the team and doing that.
“So those are kind of the top two there. … But 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.”
MSU pushed its second scrimmage of camp back to Saturday, a week after the first one.
“I know the offense very well. I think all of us have really got a good grip on everything,” Kim said Thursday after practice. “And we’re moving at a fast pace now.”
Johnson didn’t officially anoint Houser his No. 3, nor did he mention where the other scholarship quarterback on the roster — redshirt freshman Hamp Fay — fits in the mix, saying, “They’re all kind of working in there collectively,” before adding “I gotta get a little bit more information before I can handle it officially.”
“Katin and the other guys are doing well. And I’m excited about their future and roles …,” the third-year coordinator said. “We try to monitor the reps very, very diligently every day and really giving all the guys a bunch of reps,” Johnson said….