Michigan State Football: The 2021 QB battle is closer than we thought

Monday night’s “Meet the Spartans” event was a chance for Michigan State football fans to check out the new roster as it participated in practice drills as well as a scrimmage.

Fans and some media members got their first real look at one of the most important position battles in recent memory. The coaching staff has an intense quarterback battle on its hands as Payton Thorne returns after starting the final game of the 2020 season against Penn State and looking solid in the process along with Temple transfer Anthony Russo.

Both quarterbacks have their strengths and weaknesses and while they both have talent and can win games in the Big Ten this season, but their strengths are polar opposites.

Thorne is better in the mid-range and puts more touch on his intermediate routes while Russo is more of a slinger who throws a great deep ball. Thorne is more of a runner and Russo is more of a pocket passer.

Both looked solid on Monday night and didn’t provide much clarity for a “front-runner” for the starting job, showing that the quarterback battle is closer than we really expected.

Stephen Brooks of 247Sports even posted some takeaways as he was at the event and said that the quarterback battle looked to be dead even.

And the highlights from each quarterback were equally impressive.

Like this back-shoulder throw from Thorne to Jayden Reed, his favorite target.

Right after Thorne made the really good back-shoulder throw to Reed, he hit Parks Gissinger with a strike and it looked like he was really hitting his stride.

This was a throw we didn’t see completed much during the early parts of the 2020 season when Rocky Lombardi was QB1.

Russo was also impressive, but he really turned heads with his deep ball. Here he found Jalen Nailor for a long touchdown pass over the middle of the field even with strong coverage shadowing him. This apparently followed up a 52-yard touchdown to Jayden Reed in 7-on-7 drills earlier in the practice.

Mel Tucker says he wants to make a decision on the starter soon, but after watching both go back-and-forth on Monday night, that almost seems impossible.

Michigan State football better off at QB than it was in 2020

No disrespect to Rocky Lombardi, but he just wasn’t the answer at quarterback for the Spartans last season and while he connected on a number of deep passes, his accuracy was a major issue and decision-making wasn’t much better.

The Spartans realized a little too late that Thorne was a better passing option (we saw against Ohio State and Penn State) and then Tucker went out and added Russo.

Noah Kim has taken a step forward this offseason and there’s plenty of excitement for Hamp Fay in the green and white. The quarterback room has improved drastically and it’s only going to get better in 2022 with the addition of Katin Houser.

Whether it’s Russo or Thorne winning the job in 2021, the Spartan offense is in much better and more capable hands.