Michigan State Football: Who’s the most underrated player heading into 2022?

Michigan State football has a lot of talent on its 2022 roster. But, who is the most underrated Spartan going into next season?

Michigan State had a ton of success last season. A lot of it was due to having running back Kenneth Walker lead the offense. But there are a lot of names who did not get the attention they deserved and they still are not getting it this offseason.

There is one player, in particular, that is getting quite frankly a little disrespected by the fans. That player: Payton Thorne.

In 2021, Thorne got his first taste of being the everyday starter and he did not disappoint in the slightest. He threw for 3,240 yards, which was 23rd in the nation, 27 touchdowns (18th in the nation), and had a 77.7 QBR which ranked him 17th. To go along with that, he also had a 148.1 passer rating.

It was not just the passing game in which Thorne was efficient but he was also a valuable asset to with the ball in his hands, using his legs. He did not have numbers like Malik Willis but he was really solid for a quarterback you would not expect to run a ton. Thorne had 181 yards on the ground to go along with four rushing touchdowns, with his season-long being a 32-yard run.

Now he wasn’t asked to do this a lot but when the pocket collapsed or the coverage was too good downfield he was not scared to go out there and use his legs to make a play happen and that has to be one of the most underrated parts of Thorne’s game that a lot of people overlook.

Thorne has the intangibles to be an elite QB

Though Thorne has good numbers and stats, those are not the end-all, be-all when it comes to quarterback evaluation. He is a good-sized quarterback standing 6-foot-2 and weighing in at 210 pounds. So he is not undersized for the quarterback position.

To go along with his good frame, Thorne throws a beautiful deep ball. It’s arguably the best deep ball in the Big Ten with the only other competition being CJ Stroud from Ohio State.

Furthermore, he’s pretty good with his decision-making, especially for this being his first year as a starter. One thing he does need to work on though is not getting so rattled after a turnover. It was evident this season after he would throw a pick you could tell it would stick with him for a little while and would affect his decision-making later on down the road.

Another con in his game that’s easily fixable is his ball placement on some throws. On some throws, he doesn’t seem to trust his receiver as much as he should. For example, on a 50/50 ball that normally you just lob up and let it be just that, he tries to be too fancy with it and ends up making it more difficult for his receiver. But, as I stated this is easily fixable and we should trust Jay Johnson to work with Thorne and fix this in time for the 2022 season.

If it was not obvious enough I think Thorne has a super high ceiling and believe that next year when Michigan State won’t have Walker and he will probably be forced to throw the ball more; I have no doubt in my mind that he will live up to the challenge and not only succeed with it but thrive with it and show all the doubters and fans already trying to bench him that he is that guy.

I won’t even be surprised if Thorne is an All-Big Ten first-teamer in 2022. But in the end, we will all just have to wait and see.