Michigan State football: Payton Thorne reveals he hasn’t been 100 percent
From Week 1, it was obvious that Payton Thorne was just off. The Michigan State football starting quarterback looked like he was playing timid and he was tense. He was overthrowing everything and afraid to take off and run.
Something wasn’t right.
There were rumors that he had been fighting through an injury and maybe even had an offseason procedure, but nothing was confirmed.
Until Tuesday when Thorne spoke to the media.
MSU QB Payton Thorne said he has not been 100% physically since the WMU game, and it has affected his mobility and part in the run game. Won’t use it as an excuse and says it comes down to him and elevating his level of play.
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) October 11, 2022
This confirms that he has been playing at less than 100 percent and explains some of the struggles both through the air and with his legs.
However, it does not excuse his play.
Healthy or not, Michigan State needs better QB play
Playing through an injury may have been detrimental to Thorne and the entire offense as they’ve seemed out of rhythm all year long.
It would have been smart if he would’ve maybe taken a back seat to Noah Kim to start the year while he rehabbed or healed up but he decided to play through and, in turn, got off to a horrid start and never really got his confidence back.
He did look good against Washington and had his moments against Maryland, Western Michigan, and Akron, but he has been falling short of expectations this year.
Thorne did admit that he isn’t using his injury as an excuse (which he shouldn’t) but he did mention that his play needs to be better. And we can all agree on that.
No starting job should be safe moving forward, not even his.
Next. 3 takeaways from embarrassing loss to Ohio State. dark