On the afternoon of April 15, Michigan State held the annual Spring Football Kickoff Event in Spartan Stadium under blue skies and unseasonably warm weather. The format of the event was more of a structured practice than a game, complete with stretching and position drills.
In real time, it was possible to gain some insight into the future of the Spartan program. However, a closer look at the Big Ten Network broadcast (with is benefit of the "rewind" button) provided a chance get a better handle on the various position battles on both sides of the ball.
In today's piece, let's focus on the offensive side of the ball and the status of the five major position groups, starting with the quarterbacks.
Quarterbacks
In the early phases on the event, the top three quarterbacks on the roster (senior Payton Thorne, junior Noah Kim, and freshman Katin Houser) rotated through the drills evenly, with no one player seeming to have the advantage.
As the event wore on, however, it become increasing clear that Thorne is currently the No. 1 quarterback, Kim is No. 2 and Houser is No. 3. In the final period of the event where the offense attempted to score a touchdown in under a minute of game time, Thorne went first with the No. 1 offense and Kim went second with the No. 2 offense.
In reviewing the broadcast, this priority became even more clear. Thorne did not do much until the final segment of the event, but he was honestly not asked to do much. I only charted him with 10 meaningful snaps prior to the two-minute drill, five of which were run plays.
That said, Thorne was sharp in the final sequence, completing 5-of-6 passes to five different receivers before using his legs to score a 15-yard touchdown. I charted Thorne at an efficient 7-for-10 and 56 yards with only one bad throw, based on the plays shown on the broadcast.
Noah Kim took the most meaningful snaps (22) of the three quarterbacks in the later half of the event. He also generated the most impressive plays of the afternoon, including back-to-back tosses to freshman receiver Antonio Gates to close out the afternoon. Kim was the most aggressive quarterback on the field, and I charted a total of six completions of 10 yards or more.
Overall, I credit Kim with 9-for-17 passing and 113 yards, including two drops that could have been catches. That said, I also charted Kim with five bad throws, including two near interceptions, and three passes that missed badly. Kim appears to be a potentially high risk/high reward player at this point in his development.
Regarding Houser, I charted the redshirt freshman with a total of 15 meaningful snaps, seven of which were run plays. As the scrimmage wore on, he was increasingly paired with the second or third string offense. Overall, I credited him with 5-for-8 passing and roughly 70 yards. Houser basically had a few good throws and a few bad ones and that was about it.
His best play of the day was likely a connection on a crossing route to senior walk-on tight end Jackson Morse who ran away from the third (or fourth) string defense for roughly 40 yards as they essentially gave up on the play. I am not sure we learned much from that specific play.
Running Backs
While sitting in the press box on Saturday, my initial impression was that sophomore and UConn transfer Nathan Carter had a good afternoon and might be the favorite to start this fall. But as the scrimmage wore on, it was junior Jalen Berger who played with the first string offense in the final period and South Florida senior transfer Jaren Mangham who took the field with the second string offense.
Upon reviewing the broadcast, I now believe that what we saw in the final 10 minutes of the event is a more accurate view of the depth chart where Berger is No. 1 and Mangham is No. 2.
In the live scrimmage portion of the event, I only charted a total of 18 total running play, which were roughly evenly split between Berger (4), Mangham (3), Carter (4), sophomore Davion Primm (4), and senior Jordon Simmons (2).
This results is a very small sample size, but with the data we do have, Berger (31 yards) and Mangham (17 yards) appeared to have the best days running the football. All four of Berger's runs went for at least six yards. Based on my charting, Primm (13 yards) actually looked slightly better than Carter (8 yards) and Simmons (7 yards).
Nate Carter has received a fair amount of buzz so far this spring. He may well continue to improve and threaten for significant carries this fall as he acclimates to the Michigan State system. But the fact remains that I only charted him with one carry over two yards in the final hour of the event on Saturday.
Wide Receivers
With Jayden Reed headed to the NFL draft, junior Keon Coleman looks to be the undisputed No. 1 option at the wide receiver position and senior Tre Mosley is almost certainly No. 2. Coleman did not participate in the scrimmage portion of the Kickoff Event, but Mosley managed to snag two passes for 40 yards and generally looked to be his talented and reliable self.
Beyond the clear top two pass-catchers, a close look at the broadcast did provide some hints as to the remainder of the depth chart.
Based on the playing group most commonly deployed with the first-string offense, it looked like junior Christian Fitzpatrick (one catch for 10 yards) is the current No. 3 receiver. After him, senior Montorie Foster (two catches for 17 yards) was also often on the field with the No. 1 offense. That said, Cade McDonald (one catch for 20 yards) appeared to play slot receiver in the two-minute drill with the first string offense to close out the event.
The next grouping of receivers tended to play together with the No. 2 offense. This group includes freshman Antonio Gates, Jr. (two catches for 48 yards), freshman Jaron Glover (one catch for five yards), and sophomore Tyrell Henry (one very impressive catch for 10 yards off a pass thrown behind him by Katin Houser).
Those eight players are the most likely to see the field this fall, but a handful of other wide receivers did play on Saturday. Junior walk-on Zach Gillespie, walk-on senior Nick Hunter, and walk-on junior Aubrey Dawkins all took snaps with the third team offense.
Tight Ends
Michigan State has been a program that strived to make good use of tight ends, and based on the Kickoff Event, that trend will continue. The Spartans deployed tight ends lined up as h-backs, attached to the line, and split out in the slot. There are several new faces in the tight end room in 2023 and all of them took multiple snaps on Saturday.
The only returning member of the tight end group who saw significant playing time last year is junior Maliq Carr, and he clearly seems to be the No. 1 tight end on the roster. He played several snaps with the first string offense and was targeted at least three times, recording one catch for 10 yards.
Behind Carr, however, the picture is less clear. Several other tight ends took snaps with either the first or second string. Senior Evan Morris, sixth-year Boise State transfer Tyneil Hopper, and sixth-year Wisconsin transfer Jaylen Franklin all saw significant action. Franklin recorded one catch for 10 yards.
Several young tight ends also saw significant action. Freshmen Michael Masunas, Brennan Parachek, and Jack Nickel all saw the field as did former quarterback Hamp Fay and Norfolk State transfer Ademola Faleye, who was targeted twice, but who did not record a catch.
While catching passes is certainly nice, it is likely the ability to block that will decide which tight ends will see more playing time this fall. With so little emphasis on the running game in the Kickoff Event, it was difficult to evaluate tight end blocking. We will likely need to wait until the fall for the picture to become more clear.
Offensive Line
Finally, Saturday was a great chance to see the depth chart for the offensive line. In this case the first, second, and third teams appeared to be fairly clear.
The first team offensive line primarily consisted of junior Brandon Baldwin at left tackle, senior J.D. Duplain at left guard, senior Nick Samac at center, sophmore Geno VanDeMark at right guard, and senior Spencer Brown at right tackle. This group totaled almost 3000 snaps in 2022, and VanDeMark (215 snaps) was the only member of the group with fewer than 400 total snaps last year.
The second team offense line was typically comprised of junior college transfer Keyshawn Blackstock at left tackle, senior Evan Brunning at left guard, junior Dallas Fincher at center, sophmore Kevin Wigenton at right guard, and sophmore Ethan Boyd at left tackle. These five players combined for just 50 snaps combined last year, but they should provide functional depth.
The third string offensive line consisted of freshman Ashton Lepo at left tackle, freshmen Jacob Merritt and Andy Hartman at left guard, freshman Cole Dellinger at center, freshman Braden Miller at right guard, and freshman Stanton Ramil at right tackle. Hopefully members of this group will be able to see the field in 2023 in blowout situations and not do so some sort of emergency.
Stay tuned to Spartans Illustrated for continuing coverage of the Michigan State Spring Kickoff Event.
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