Michigan State’s Noah Kim believes bonding visit from WR teammates could pay dividends
East Lansing, Mich. – It may turn out to mean nothing at all, or it could be the link between a win or a loss for Michigan State in a crucial passing situation in 2023.
While those questions won’t be answered until the culmination of the 2023 season, when Michigan State redshirt-junior quarterback Noah Kim invited three of his wide receiver teammates to his home in Centreville, Va., for some bonding time and a chance to further get on the same page competitively outside of the confines of practice, there was definitely a purpose behind the idea.
“I think it was just more of an, ‘All right, we need to do this,’ not like an every single day kind of schedule,” Kim said. “It was more of a bonding kind of thing.
“They came to my home, my dad was cooking good food for them. And so treating them right, we took them out to (Washington) D.C. And so aside from all of the football, training and lifting and all that stuff, we made sure that we were just bonding and getting to know each other more. Just experiencing new things with each other.’’
For the trip, senior WR Tre Mosley, senior WR Montorie Foster, and redshirt-junior WR Christian Fitzpatrick pooled their resources, mainly gas money, and traveled nearly 600 miles to spend some quality time together.
In an offseason in which fourth-year head coach Mel Tucker and his staff have put an emphasis on team bonding as a priority with trivia competitions, bowling outings and putt-putt golf events, for four days Kim, Mosley, Foster Jr. and Fitzpatrick took things a step further to try and sure up their chemistry as a possible avenue for more on-field success.
How did Kim come up with the idea?
“I just kind of sent a text,” Kim said. “I was like, ‘If you guys aren’t doing anything, drop down. It’s a hard (drive), but come drop down.’
“They were like, ‘We’re not doing anything, we’ll drive.’
“So they split the gas money, took one car and drove down to me and (we) spent four days (together). We set them up right.’’
That “right” didn’t only include football but good food, courtesy of Kim’s father Tae, who wowed the trio with jerk wings, grilled steaks and homemade spaghetti and of course, the trip to the nation’s capital.
Small things in the big picture but potentially huge benefits in the long run.
Many Spartan fans may remember the Rather Hall incident involving the football team under former coach Mark Dantonio that saw eight Spartans suspended from the team.
While the incident was ugly, one of the good things that came out of it was that former MSU QB and present Minnesota Vikings’ starter Kirk Cousins reached out to suspended wide receiver teammates B.J. Cunningham and Mark Dell for off-the-books workouts.
Legend has it that because Cunningham and Dell were part of a group that was not allowed to utilize on-campus facilities, the fact that Cousins worked out with the pair, having them run routes in a parking lot while throwing balls to them in order to keep them fresh, helped connect the QB and those WRs, building chemistry that paid dividends later. Cunningham and Dell resumed their careers after the suspensions, and became key receivers for Cousins, stalwart members of the program and graduates. Cousins went on to be one of the most effective leaders in recent Michigan State history.
While the circumstances are different here, although you could argue that Payton Thorne’s sudden departure to Auburn in May qualifies as adversity, the results could be the same – added success because of Kim’s thoughtfulness and leadership, and three teammates willingness to accept his offer.
Kim played in four games last season against Western Michigan, Ohio State, Akron and Minnesota as Thorne’s back-up. He finished 14-of-19 passing for 174 yards and three touchdowns in spot duty during a 5-7 season.
Last season, Mosley had 35 receptions while Foster had seven catches in a season slowed by injury. Fitzpatrick had two catches while seeing his season cut short by injury after week five.
With the loss of Jayden Reed to the NFL and Keon Coleman’s defection to Florida State, the production from that trio will need to increase significantly if this year’s team expects to field a respectable offense.
Reed and Coleman accounted for 113 receptions, 1,434 yards and 12 TDs last season. Thorne threw for 2679 yards and 19 scores.
Those figures need to be provided by new blood this year. Kim, Mosley, Foster and Fitzpatrick are the leading candidates to provide it.
So it makes sense that it would be wise to pursue any and every advantage available to quarterback and wide receiver in preparation for the 2023 season. That’s what the trip to Virginia was all about.
“Oh, it was definitely important because we always want be on the same page with our quarterback,” Foster said. “So, when he asked us, ‘Do we want to come down here to Virginia, throw the ball (around) and run some routes?’ I was like, ‘Of course.’ We definitely had to go down there and get some work in.”
Foster is glad they did it.
“We definitely had a lot of experience down there with him, just getting to know his family, his dogs and just how he lives, on a day-to-day basis,” Foster said. “It was pretty cool to see.’’
MSU is hoping that ‘’cool’’ translates into game success this season.
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