Michigan State Football: Anthony Russo will only help Payton Thorne

Michigan State football landed a grad transfer on Wednesday in the form of former Temple gunslinger Anthony Russo. This is good for Payton Thorne.

Payton Thorne just got some extra competition on Wednesday as Temple grad transfer decided to choose Michigan State as his next home.

After a career game against Penn State, Thorne showed that he’s probably the ‘next man up’ at quarterback for the Spartans. He was poised in the pocket, made great throws all afternoon and had just one mistake in the first pass of the game which resulted in an interception. He finished with 325 yards and three touchdowns, giving fans excitement about the position for the first time since 2017.

Some might assume that the decision of the staff to go after a grad transfer at quarterback means that they don’t trust Thorne moving forward, but that’s not the case.

Michigan State has four quarterbacks on the roster right now and until the Penn State game, no one was standing out and taking the reins. Rocky Lombardi was shaky and it seemed clear he just didn’t have the accuracy to cut it and Theo Day wasn’t pushing for time, it appeared. Noah Kim hasn’t gotten any reps as a true freshman.

And Thorne finally got extended reps against Penn State in his first start and looked like the future.

But the staff doesn’t want to be in this same position next year with an excess of mediocrity and an injury away from being irrelevant. Although Russo has some talent, completing 68 percent of his passes in just a few games this season, he’s not transferring in as a guaranteed starter. This is a move to push Thorne and the rest of the QB room to be better.

Plus, Hamp Fay is likely going to redshirt next season as Thorne will be a sophomore and he could potentially take over as QB1 in 2022 or 2023.

This is going to benefit everyone as there’s a new leader in the QB room along with Lombardi and Russo is going to push everyone to be better. Expect a clear starter heading into next season and Thorne could take that next step.