DotComp: Michigan State’s Noah Kim dials it in and flashes immense talent in debut
East Lansing, Mich. – Noah Kim paced the Michigan State sidelines after three empty possessions, two of which ended with inaccurate passes. He received a few pats on the back. He probably appreciated them, but he didn’t need them.
“I’m good, I’m good,” he said. “I’m good.”
And by the end of the night, most would agree.
Kim overcame some early wild pitches and settled in for a constructive, encouraging performance in his first start as Michigan State’s new quarterback during the Spartans’ slow-drip, 31-7 blowout victory over Central Michigan in the season opener, Friday night at packed Spartan Stadium.
When Kim said “I’m good,” he meant good mentally, good psychologically. Unbothered.
Was he nervous? In retrospect, he said no. Head coach Mel Tucker called it jitters. I would call it excitement. He was excited. He was juiced. He was jacked. And that’s why he sailed the ball five feet over Antonio Gates Jr.’s head when he was open on a comeback route at the sideline against soft cover-three zone on third-and-13.
Central Michigan gave Gates a big cushion, enough for the Spartans to cherry pick a first down. Kim made the right read. And he’s made that throw accurately, and tightly, many times in practice. That’s how he won the starting job over talented but less-consistent four star bonus baby Katin Houser during spring practice and and August camp.
When Kim overthrew that pass (bring on the punt team), and then overthrew Tyrell Henry on a slot out on third and five, ending Michigan State’s next drive, there were groans. I groaned. Would I have traded a three-star to be named later at that moment to bring Payton Thorne back? I probably would have. And I would have been wrong.
Kim stayed the course.
“I never lost my confidence,” Kim said. “I was confident going into the game and I was confident when we had a three-and-out. I was confident because I know the plays are there. I knew everybody on the sideline was on the same page. Nobody was going crazy, like ‘What are we doing?’”
Kim’s best pass of the first quarter was the first play of Michigan State’s second drive. Offensive coordinator Jay Johnson called for a reverse flea-flicker.
The first read, Montorie Foster, was covered on a deep post.
The second read, tight end Maliq Carr, was open deep down the left sideline.
Kim delivered an excellent touch pass to him, over the shoulder. Carr dropped it.
His best pass of the night, to that point, was dropped.
By the end of the night, we learned that Kim has a good corps of pass catchers. But at the outset of this game, he wasn’t getting a lot of help from them.
Kim mindset remained unchanged: I’m good, I’m good.
“We know we can make the plays,” Kim said. “We prove it to ourselves in practice. So everybody was confident going into the next drive.”
I’m glad they were, because some of us weren’t. Those of us who still have post-traumatic stress disorder from the three times when Central Michigan beat Michigan State – CMU wins that none of these Michigan State players knew anything about, until coaches brought it to their attention last week as a means of making sure they were respecting the opponent.
After a quarter and a half against the Chippewas on this night, the Spartans didn’t need to be told that Central Michigan was a quality, capable sparring partner. CMU was the better, sharper team for most of the first half. Early on, they won the short yardage battles. They tackled better. And even their quarterback was better.
But not for long.
“I’m good, I’m good,” Kim said as he paced the sidelines, to no one, and everyone, and maybe himself.
DIALING IT IN
Kim put his helmet on, trotted out to the field and delivered a dime to Tre Mosley on a sit-down route in the middle of the CMU zone.
One play later, Carr missed a block on a gap play.
Next play, Carr dropped another pass.
Next play, left tackle Brandon Baldwin was flagged for a false start, creating a third-and-17.
Kim’s support personnel faltered on this drive.
On third-and-17, he threw incomplete to Mosley on a corner route. The Michigan State sideline wanted a pass interference call. Didn’t get it.
The pass was thrown at about 14 yards. If Mosley had caught it, it wouldn’t have been enough for a first down. But that’s better than forcing an interception into coverage beyond the sticks. Kim made good choices all night, and pressed the issue when necessary.
Some of us might have been wondering if Tucker considered pulling Kim and giving Houser a shot.
“No,” Tucker said decisively, when asked after the game if was tempted to go with Houser. “We decided to give him the start because he earned that. We went with him and we didn’t have any plans to do anything else.”
Tucker made it clear on the headsets.
“I told the coaches I like the way Noah was playing,” Tucker said. “He had some drops early. I just think it was jitters. And Central came out playing hard.”
After the incompletion to Mosley, Jonathan Kim (no relation) banged a cathartic 47-yard field goal.
Then the Michigan State defense showed up with the second of what would be six three-and-outs.
That’s when Kim started dialing in his accuracy. First play of the next drive, Kim dropped back into the pocket. But the pocket began to collapse.
Kim is quicker than Thorne. He eluded the threat of the rush, buying time, sliding to his right, keeping his footwork tight and his throwing trigger coiled. And zipped a laser to Mosley. Mosley dropped it.
I liked Thorne. I defended him when I felt others were overly critical. But that play right there, despite the incompletion, was done in a way that Thorne would not be able to match.
“He has a lot of talent,” Tucker said. “You can see that.”
We didn’t know it at the time, but Kim was now locked in. He just needed some passengers to climb aboard.
Five plays later, Nathan Carter was stopped on fourth-and-one at the 30 when Central Michigan’s Bear front gained penetration with a swim move by a defensive tackle against left guard J.D. Duplain. The PTSD meter spiked.
Then Central Michigan drove and took advantage of a pair of Michigan State facemask penalties (hello, Brandon Wright and Maverick Hansen). The Chippewas scored, and took a 7-3 lead.
Now Kim needed to lead. This was no longer his first start. No longer his big debut. No longer his new flashy big man on campus moment. Now it was a football game. And he knew how to handle it.
Jaron Glover checked into the game, and promptly changed it.
Kim began the next drive with an out route to Glover for 10 yards.
Kim had one more wild pitch to get out of his system. He missed Carr on a corner route on second-and-four. I heard a few groans. But there would be no more.
Next play, third-and-four from the Michigan State 33-yard line, came the turning point of the game, and the turning point for how we all look at Kim today.
Kim liked Glover’s matchup. A short pass to move the chains might have been wiser. But sometimes you need your quarterback to be a bull rider.
It remains to be seen if Kim has the smarts and situational awareness to be a game manager when necessary. I suspect he does. But at this moment, with 1:11 left in the first half, Kim wanted the long ball.
Kim delivered a perfect deep shot to Glover, with nice touch and sharp trajectory.
All that stuff Tucker used to say about Kim’s “arm talent”? There it was.
And he trusted Glover with it. Why not? Twelve months ago, Glover was one of a small handful of true freshmen who got on the field for the season opener against Akron. He didn’t play the rest of the year and preserved redshirt status. But he was good enough last August, after one month on campus, to earn some snaps on opening night, and even caught a 2-yard pass against the Zips.
Here he was again, staring down a perfect deep pass from Kim, making an adjustment to the throw as he raced down the sideline, not wanting to be next guy to drop a Kim pass.
And he didn’t. Glover hauled it in for a 32-yard catch.
Two plays later, Kim went to Glover again, on an out-and-up. Kim delivered a deep-third strike for 32 more yards.
“I was happy for Glover,” Kim said. “He made two big plays on that drive. That was definitely a key moment. There was some momentum.”
Next play, Carter scored on a 2-yard run. Michigan State led 10-7. And the Michigan State football world was back in its proper orbit.
“Those catches were big,” Kim said. “Him making those big plays gave us confidence that is going to carry on to the next game and the next game and the next game.”
Michigan State had one more possession before halftime, beginning with :23 seconds left on the clock. Kim looked like a veteran, positioning the Spartans and manufacturing a shot. This guy is a threat.
He executed a middle screen to Mosley for a short gain (time out). And then connected with Jalen Berger for 11 more yards.
Michigan State had it at the 50-yard line with :05 seconds left. Michigan State hasn’t had many quarterbacks in recent years who could drop back to the 45-yard line, or deeper, and get it to the end zone. Kim did, eight yards deep into the end zone, with another perfect spiral that seemed almost effortless. This kid can deal.
He waited for the receivers to get downfield, sensed the proper moment and lofted it toward Montorie Foster, into a crowd of players. The timing was right. The accuracy was good, and the pass glanced off Foster’s chest for an incompletion.
It wasn’t technically a dropped pass, but it’s not hard to go back over the film and find another 80 or 90 yards that Kim could and should have had added to his stat sheet if his receivers had finished a few plays.
Michigan State went into the locker room leading 10-7, but with a quarterback solidifying himself as the man.
GOOD, HARD-HITTING FUN
Kim said he was told he would be the starting quarterback more than a week ago. Michigan State personnel did a pretty good job of keeping it quiet in the days leading up to the game.
Meanwhile, Kim got accustomed to the feeling of being the starter.
“It feels great,” he said. “It was all earned through practice. It’s not like I have to do anything extra just because I was named the starting quarterback. I have some great teammates with me. I can’t lead by myself. It’s a collective group and we are looking to be a player-led team and I think we have that right now. If we continue to do that, we can be a really good team.”
The supporting cast started gaining traction for Kim on the second drive of the third quarter.
Duplain sealed his man and paved the way for Berger to gain five yards on third-and-two at the Central Michigan 38-yard line.
Next play, Kim went deep to Gates and drew pass interference.
It was nice to see Michigan State willing to stretch a defense. Kim has the arm to do it, and we might be learning that he has the receivers to take the top off of a defense, too. Foster has done a little bit of that in the past. Gates has some deep threat talent, and so does Glover.
Next play, Kim wasn’t perfect with a swing pass to Berger. But Berger, MSU’s best pass-catching running back, hauled in a one-handed catch and gained 6.
Now Berger was hot.
Next play, Gates and tight end Evan Morris delivered key blocks as Berger cut back on a wide zone play and scored from 12 yards out. Michigan State led 17-7.
First play of the next drive, Central Michigan played press coverage on Christian Fitzpatrick, a 6-foot-4 second string wide receiver.
Kim liked the matchup. Johnson gave him freedom to seek chunks.
Kim delivered his most picturesque throw of the night, deep and perfectly to Fitzpatrick. He made the catch on the run, and gained 72 yards to the 10-yard line.
Two plays later, Kim put a jumpball up for Henry on a slot corner fade. Henry made a great catch despite pass interference. 24-7. Now they were having fun.
Next drive, Michigan State took a 31-7 lead when Kim fed Carr with an alley-oop high near the rim. Carr made an excellent catch and showed great body control in getting a foot down for an 8-yard TD.
Carr had a forgettable first half. But he’s a big guy with good hands, good burst, size, strength and uncommon body control. That talent was on display on this touchdown. That play helped him leave the stadium feeling good.
Earlier in that drive, Kim had a little 7-yard run on a QB counter keeper. He withstood a tough hit from a Chippewa defender. Kim jumped to his feet, nodding and happy.
“I honestly haven’t really been hit in so long,” Kim said. “Getting hit again was like a fun kind of thing.”
Kim hadn’t been tackled hard since the high school state semifinals in 2019. Then he redshirted at Michigan State in 2020, didn’t see action in 2021, and played 38 snaps last year – all without getting hit.
At practice, quarterbacks wear a red jersey and aren’t allowed to be tackled.
Believe it. He hadn’t taken a shot on a football field since his senior year in high school. Now, here he was, in front of 75,000 fans, having turned a struggling start into a quality performance. He’s a college QB. He’s dreamed of this. Hard hits included. It tasted good.
“It’s football,” he said with a bright smile. “You’re playing football again.”
Real, full-blown football.
“That’s what you want to do,” he said. “It’s a child’s game. At the end of the day, we’re going out there to have fun. So getting hit again was a good thing to feel, I guess. Yeah, it was cool.”
Cool and good. Michigan State can work with that.
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