Michigan State Football: Payton Thorne looked like QB1 in open practice

Michigan State football fans got their first looks at the 2021 version of the Spartans on Saturday afternoon and while it wasn’t a traditional spring game, it was still insightful.

Everyone got to see some regular drills that this team goes through at normal practices like 7-on-7s and position drills but all eyes were on the team portions when the Spartans got to scrimmage each other.

The offense was the main focus as the quarterback position was wide open heading into spring camp and it still seems relatively up in the air, but Payton Thorne made some strides.

Anthony Russo transferred to Michigan State from Temple this past winter and enrolled for spring classes and he was expected to be the starter by many because he had the experience. Meanwhile, Thorne had just two games with extended action as a redshirt freshman (Ohio State and Penn State). He performed well against both teams.

Everyone was excited to see how he would respond to a new quarterback coming in and trying to take a job everyone assumed that he won at the end of the 2020 season.

Thorne responded well.

Thorne leading Michigan State football’s QB1 race early

When the team scrimmage portion began on Saturday, Thorne was the first quarterback to take the field. While this may not have meant anything, he backed it up.

Thorne threw a long touchdown pass to Cade McDonald and another to Jayden Reed and was making the tough throws all day long. He looked sharp and comfortable in the pocket. He escaped pressure and used his legs more than Russo while also looking faster than he did a season ago.

Although there were no official stats, he looked and played like the best quarterback and he spoke to BTN afterwards, stating that he felt a lot more comfortable and felt like he had a good spring.

His play was proof.

Michigan State should be in good hands heading into the summer with Thorne looking like he took that next step and Russo nipping at his heels.