East Lansing, Mich. – There was a reason that redshirt sophomore quarterback Noah Kim won the backup job coming out of fall camp.
A few of those reasons were displayed and reaffirmed on Saturday during the second half of Michigan State’s 52-0 smashing of Mid-American Confeence foe Akron.
Kim, who had one snap against Western Michigan in the Spartans’ season-opening 35-13 win over the Broncos, doubled his participation on Saturday against the Zips and made the most of his time on the field.
His brief appearance against the Broncos didn’t hurt either.
On his only snap against WMU, the play call allowed Kim to throw the ball. On the first snap of his college career, Kim’s deep shot intended for Jayden Reed in the end zone drew a pass interference flag.
The confidence Michigan State offensive coordinator Jay Johnson had in Kim resonated with that deep pass play call. Kim appreciated it.
“I feel like that was a just a good call to make (against WMU),’’ he said. “Everybody expects when somebody gets in there (in a backup situation) to just run the ball for the first time. I feel like it was a good call and I was happy that I got that call.’’
Fast forward to Saturday.
With starting quarterback Payton Thorne on the sidelines and being evaluated after taking a hard hit from Akron linebacker Bubba Arslanian on a flea-flicker attempt early in the second half, Kim was pressed into action on MSU’s second offensive series after the Spartans recovered a Zips fumble at the 20-yard line.
After a Jarek Broussard run of four yards on first down, Kim not only completed his first career pass but it resulted in a touchdown to wide receiver Tre Mosley as he was streaking toward the left sideline of the endzone.
On the play, which gave MSU an eventual 31-0 lead, Kim took the snap on second-and-six at the 16-yard line, faked a hand off to Broussard, bootlegged to his left, squared his shoulders near the sideline and hit Mosley, who had broken away from ironically, the same guy who had put Thorne on the sidelines, Arslanian, for the touchdown.
Sophomore wideout Keon Coleman was in the same area on the play, near the back of the endzone but Kim, with a smile, made no doubt of who his pass was directed towards on the play.
“Tre, Tre Mosley,’’ he said with a laugh. “It just kind of ended up being that way. I think that’s just kind of how the play unraveled. They weren’t in the wrong place but how long the play was kind of extended it and it just ended being that way.’’
While Kim’s touchdown was a nice moment – he eventually finished the game 2-for-2 for 22 yards and one TD – the fact that he was able to step in at a moment’s notice and execute with calm and resolve was an even bigger deal.
“I wouldn’t say it tremendously helped me in any sort of way,’’ he said in response to just being thrown into the fray because of circumstances. “I feel like getting thrown in there, you have no time to be nervous, you have no time for anything like that and you don’t know what to expect but I feel like when I got in there, I felt calm and I felt prepared. I knew the gameplan and I was able to execute the plays.
“Between last week and this week, I guess today we scored from it and last week we didn’t, so I feel like that was the main difference.’’
And the circumstances didn’t change Kim’s approach.
“I feel like I was very confident in myself these last two weeks whether I played or not,” he said. “I feel like when that time comes, the coaches have done a great job with being able to have me prepared for any type of moment like that. Whether it’s against the biggest teams or something like today or last week, I feel like the preparation we’ve done with me and the rest of the guys, collectively, I feel like we’re all really comfortable with how we did.’’
And if you ask teammates like senior safety Kendell Brooks, who have faced Kim in practice on a daily basis, what fans saw on Saturday from the Centreville, Va. native should come as no surprise.
“He’s got a strong arm, (he’s) mobile, (and he) makes good decisions,’’ Brooks said. “I wasn’t surprised when he threw that touchdown (on Saturday) because that’s Noah, great accuracy, overall, just a great quarterback.’’
For Kim’s part, he just wanted to take the events of Saturday’s game, which he said would garner phone calls and texts from his father Tae, his QB coach from his hometown, and his high school coaches and his close friends, in stride.
“I think that’s what kind of comes into the job of being the backup quarterback,” he said. “We kind of got to work with that last week against Western (Michigan). We had the same kind of thing happen.
“Payton wasn’t hurt or anything like that but he just had to come out for a play. So stepping in there, I think the biggest thing going in there was the preparation week and all that stuff. We hone in on executing the play, just basic fundamentals. Don’t try to do too much, just do what the play is designed to do. That’s kind of what it led to (on Saturday). That was really just the mindset.’’
Kim came to Michigan State after throwing for 6,756 yards and rushing for 1,056 at Westfield High in Centreville, Va. He led Centreville to a state championship as a sophomore and the state semifinals as a junior and senior.
He was 41-2 as a starter in high school and was ranked the No. 33 pro style QB in the country by Rivals.com, and the No. 19 player in Virginia.
Two months after he signed with Michigan State, head coach Mark Dantonio announced his retirement. Kim redshirted in 2020 with Mel Tucker on board as the new head coach, and didn’t see game action last year while he and Hampton Fay, a Tucker signee, jockeyed for third-string status.
In August, Fay moved from quarterback to safety. True freshman Katin Houser claimed third-string status and Kim’s role as the back-up became solidified.
“Having to be in there at any second kind of has to be my mindset,” said Kim, an advertising management major. “Anything can happen. When unfortunate things happen, if Payton comes out for one play, two plays or the rest of the game, as the backup quarterback, you’ve got to be able to go in there and produce just as well or even better than what he produced on the field. So, the preparation is the same. The mindset is, when I get in the game I have to keep the offense going at the high pace that it is just as well.’’
Saturday’s action was also the first time Kim was put in a game to run a whole series since high school three seasons ago.
“This is my third year of college but it felt really good to be out there again, just playing football, just having fun with it, just like the coaches said, just execute the play and execute it at a high level and just knowing what to do,” he said. “That’s really going to take you to where you want to get to.’’
So what does he expect to gain from his two impromptu appearances this season?
“(Getting into these) first two games kind of gives me credentials to be a leader,’’ Kim said. “I feel like I’m taking the right steps forward and I’m working hard for the things that I’m receiving right now, and I feel like it will give me some credentials for the future; that I did stick with it, that I worked hard and I feel like it will be easier for the guys to follow along with that.’’
