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Michigan State Football: 3 offseason 2021 predictions for Spartans

By Conner Linsner

Michigan State's head coach Mel Tucker and the Spartans take the filed before the game against Ohio State on Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing.201205 Msu Osu 030a
Michigan State's head coach Mel Tucker and the Spartans take the filed before the game against Ohio State on Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing.201205 Msu Osu 030a /
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Dec 5, 2020; East Lansing, Michigan, USA; Michigan State Spartans quarterback Payton Thorne (10) runs the ball during the fourth quarter against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Spartan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 5, 2020; East Lansing, Michigan, USA; Michigan State Spartans quarterback Payton Thorne (10) runs the ball during the fourth quarter against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Spartan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports /

2. The QB for next season will be known this spring

One of the transfers Mel Tucker brought to East Lansing was former Temple quarterback Anthony Russo. Rocky Lombardi transferred to Northern Illinois and Theo Day didn’t see any action in 2020, so it’s safe to say that this will be a two-man race between Russo and redshirt sophomore Payton Thorne.

Assuming there will be spring football in April, this is the perfect time to see where everyone is in regards to the rep chart, but this is especially obvious for the quarterback position.

In the Green and White game or the basic offense vs. defense (however Tucker decides to format the spring game), eyes will be glued to the quarterback competition.

Just based on experience, production and arm talent, Russo probably leads right now, but Thorne also has a whole year ahead in terms of playbook knowledge and the coaches have raved about his football IQ. Thorne doesn’t have the biggest arm in the world, but he is accurate, athletic and makes pretty good reads for the most part. Russo makes his money chucking the deep ball, so Tucker does have two different style quarterbacks competing for the No. 1 spot.

Now it’s very unlikely that  Jay Johnson and Tucker decided to name who the starting quarterback will be this spring. However, we will informally know who is in the lead based on performance, reports and quotes from the coaches this spring. The Lombardi experiment this season dragged out until the Ohio State game, with the coaches not letting Thorne loose. Experience might play a big role in who gets the job, because it was just about the only logical reason Lombardi played over Thorne last season.

Whoever comes out of the spring as the leader has a great advantage going into summer. If they keep up the progress in fall camp they could see themselves as the starter in Week 1.

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